Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Reflex
by Voltage Axe
Summary: First story chapter can be found on the "fifth chapter". The Bloody Valentine Wars have been long since passed, and the Naturals and Coordinators have both lived in peace even longer. However, a new threat is on the rise after a group of four ZAFT soldiers are killed during a mission gone awry, that could spell the end to the long-lasting peace. Cover art designed by me!
1. CAST OF CHARACTERS

_**Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Reflex**_

**CAST OF CHARACTERS**

* * *

_**PLANT/ZAFT**_

**Military Command  
**

Chairwoman Lacus Clyne-Yamato  
Chief Commander Kira Yamato  
Strategic Commander Yzak Joule

**Yamato Team  
**Third Generation Minerva-class ship, _Gemini I_

**Captain:** Shinn Asuka  
**First Officer: **Jory Franson  
**Communications Controller (CIC): **Irene Jacobs  
**Ship Pilot: **Preston Gibbs  
**Weapon Control Systems: **Hyun Yu-ri  
**Enemy Detection and Electronic Warfare Identification: **Forrester Roehrig  
**Technicians: **Roland Lyles, Miles Overbay, Trevor Lazenby  
**Mobile Suit Pilots: **Akira Yamato, Kazunori Asuka, Jörgen Öberg-Rynås, Katherina Hembrook

**Task Force ARES  
**Third Generation Minerva-class ship, _Gemini II_

**Captain: **Lunamaria Hawke  
**First Officer: **Nadine Syed  
**Communications Controller (CIC): **Leni Hoffsteade  
**Ship Pilot: **Gerald Moore  
**Weapon Control Systems: **Jeffery Reznov  
**Enemy Detection and Electronic Warfare Identification: **Vince Mighton  
**Technicians: **Kayla Kackert, Chelsea Daniels, Shelby Foley  
**Mobile Suit Pilots: **Kairi Hawke, Bradley Hawke

Second Generation Eternal-class ship, _Polemos_

**Commander: **Dearka Elsman  
**First Officer: **Wayne Henderson  
**Head Operator: **Shiho Hahnenfuss-Joule  
**Mobile Suit Pilots: **Vivian Joule, Kyle Waltfeld, Jonathan Trine

**ZAFT Specter Teams (Infantry)**

**Specter Team "Roman"  
**Major Carmine Adams (team leader, Coordinator)  
Staff Sergeant Rafael Dion (Coordinator)  
Master Sergeant Takeshi Ando (Coordinator)  
Sergeant First Class James Snowden (Coordinator)

**Specter Team "Spartan"  
**Major Terrence Brooks (team leader, Natural)  
Staff Sergeant Davis Leung (engineer, Mixed)  
Master Sergeant James Castle (designated marksman, Coordinator)  
Sergeant First Class Luis Franco (support, Coordinator)

**Other Personnel**

Evgeniy Mudrov—chief designer and head researcher of military technologies (Natural)

* * *

_**ORB UNION**_

**Military Command**

Chief Representative of Orb and Command-in-chief Cagalli Yula Zala  
Admiral Athrun Zala

**Zala Unit  
**Third Generation Izumo-class ship, _Raiden_

**Captain: **Richard Parker  
**Vice-Captain: **Gregoire Kisaka  
**Mobile Suit Pilots: **Leon Uzumi Zala, Kenneth Connery, Phillip Dalton, Cyrus Grant-Williams

**Special Support Unit  
**Naval carrier, _Bishamonten_

**Captain: **Joseph Brosnan  
**Second-in-command: **Tyson Craig  
**Mobile Armour Pilots: **Sean O'Doherty, Paul van Braun, Elaine Jones, Clara Tennant

**Other Personnel**

Ryuta Simmons—chief designer of Orb's military

* * *

_**NATIONALIST EURASIA**_

**Military Command**

Founding leaders Pankrati Korolev, Borislav Baev, Viktor Barsukov, Sergei Kozlov, Leonid Lysov, Timur Kuksov, and Vasiliy Samodurov  
General and Nation Leader Dmitri Makarov

**Radegast Crew  
**Third Generation Girty Lue-class ship, _Radegast_

**Captain: **Andre Kartemis  
**Vice-Captain: **Bernard Kysely  
**Communications Controller (CIC): **Ilyana Gabor  
**Enemy Detection and Electronic Warfare Identification: **Xavier Villanova  
**Mobile Suit Pilots: **Aleksandr Sablin, Astrid Milgardt, Con la Oscuridad

**Perun Crew  
**Third Generation Spengler-class ship, _Perun_

**Captain: **Keith Aldous Ramsey  
**Vice-Captain: **Ciel Mechant  
**Communications Controller (CIC): **Roxanne del Porto  
**Enemy Detection and Electronic Warfare Identification: **Tomas Noel  
**Mobile Suit Pilots: **Clotaire L'Ecuyer, Lance D'Orazio, Damiano Kreigher

* * *

_**LOYALIST EURASIA**_

General and Loyalist Resistance Leader Gedeon Razumov  
Deposed Leader Wladyslaw Szabo

* * *

_**KINGDOM OF SCANDINAVIA**_

King Magnus Axelsson

**Odin Crew  
**Third Generation Nelson-class ship_, Odin_

**Captain: **Peter Rasmussen  
**Communications Controller (CIC): **Annette Nielson  
**Mobile Suit Pilot: **Anders Gunvaldsson

* * *

_**ATLANTIC FEDERATION**_

**Military Command**

President Raymond Anderson  
Commander of 1st Defence Brigade Michael Blackburn

**First Defence Brigade  
****Mobile Suit Pilots: **Samuel La Flaga, Elias Marlowe, Henry Montes

**Other Personnel**

Frank Garamond—field agent and intelligence officer overseas (Natural)

* * *

_**OTHER CHARACTERS**_

Miriallia Haww-Elsman—mother of Spike, freelance photojournalist, retired from military life

Spike Elsman—son of Dearka and Miriallia

Mu La Flaga—father of Samuel, retired admiral and from military life

Murrue Ramius—mother of Samuel, retired captain of the Archangel and from military life

Meyrin Hawke—single mother of Kairi and Bradley, retired from military life

Arthur Trine—father of Jonathan, retired captain of the Minerva and from military life

Andy Waltfeld—father of Kyle, retired veteran and from military life

Erica Simmons—mother of Ryuta, former chief designer of Orb's military

Ledonir Kisaka—father of Gregoire, retired from military life

Travis Carradine—former pop singer and double agent (Mixed)


	2. ZAFT MS INFORMATION

_**Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Reflex**_

**LIST OF MOBILE SUITS AND INFORMATION**

* * *

**ZGMF-X54S Impact (Kazunori Asuka)**

**Unit Type: **Prototype Multi-Purpose Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **ZGMF-X54S  
**Code Name: **Impact  
**Developed From: **ZGMF-X56S Impulse and ZGMF-X23S Saviour  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 91  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **ZAFT  
**Operator: **ZAFT

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.19 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **68.33 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Blue, black, red, and white

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x MMI-GAU25A 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x M81-AAK "Flex Blade" Anti-armour Knife, stored in hips  
2 x MA-B93 Beam Saber, stored in shoulders  
1 x MMI-RN42V Aerodynamic Mobile Shield, mounted on left arm  
1 x MA-ZR90 High-energy Beam Rifle, mounted on back

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System  
"Mod Zero" Pack  
-2 x MR-Q37X "Griffon 3" Beam Blade (stored on hips)  
-1 x GMF79 Quadruple Missile Launcher (mounted on back)  
-AGM300 "Phoenix" Guided Missiles  
-1 x MA-91R Beam Assault Cannon (mounted on left shoulder)

* * *

**ZGMF-X50V Ragnarök (Jörgen Öberg-Rynås)**

**Unit Type: **Prototype Varied Assault Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **ZGMF-X50V  
**Code Name: **Ragnarök  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 91  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **ZAFT  
**Operator: **ZAFT

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **17.95 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **67.73 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Dark green, carbon black

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x MMI-GAU25A 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x M81-AAK "Flex Blade" Anti-armour Knife, stored in hips  
2 x MA-B93 Beam Saber, stored in shoulders  
1 x MMI-833 "Attila" Anti-ship Sword, mounted on back  
1 x MA-ZR90 High-energy Beam Rifle, mounted on back  
1 x MMI-RN42V Aerodynamic Mobile Shield, mounted on left arm

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System

* * *

**ZGMF-X48A Hercules (Akira Yamato)**

**Unit Type: **Prototype Assault Multi-Purpose Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **ZGMF-X48A  
**Code Name: **Hercules  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 91  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **ZAFT  
**Operator: **ZAFT

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.17 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **67.95 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Snow white, slate grey, and dark blue

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x MMI-GAU3 76mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x M500 Plasma Beam Cannon, mounted on back  
2 x MA-M11 Beam Saber, stored in shoulders  
2 x MMI-N41 Rail Cannon, mounted on hips  
1 x MA-M40 High-energy Beam Rifle (optional, mounted on back)  
1 x MMI-RN42V Aerodynamic Mobile Shield, mounted on left arm

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System  
Multi-Lock Weapons System

* * *

**ZGMF-X47S Aether (Katherina Hembrook)**

**Unit Type:** Prototype Varied Assault Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number:** ZGMF-X47S  
**Code Name:** Aether  
**Manufactured:** C.E. 91  
**Launched:** C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer:** ZAFT  
**Operator:** ZAFT

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.08 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **68.13 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Sky blue and silver

**Power Source:** Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation:** Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour:** Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x MMI-GAU25A 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x MA-B93 Beam Saber, stored in shoulders  
2 x MA-780 Plasma Beam Pistol, mounted on hips  
1 x MA-ZR90 High-energy Beam Rifle, mounted on back  
1 x MMI-801 "Harpe" Anti-ship Sword, mounted on back  
1 x MMI-RN42V Aerodynamic Mobile Shield, mounted on left arm

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System

* * *

**ZGMF-X36A Volition (Vivian Joule)**

**Unit Type: **Prototype Assault Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **ZGMF-X36A  
**Code Name: **Volition  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 91  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **ZAFT  
**Operator: **ZAFT

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.01 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **68.05 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Indigo and black

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x MMI-GAU25A 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x M81-AAK "Flex Blade" Anti-armour Knife, stored in hips  
2 x MB401S Beam Boomerang, stored on shoulders  
1 x MA-ZR95 Long-range Beam-rifle, mounted on back  
-MA-Q10 40mm Beam Shotgun underslung attachment  
1 x MMI-795 "Peleus" Anti-ship Sword, mounted on back  
1 x MMI-RN40V Aerodynamic Mobile Shield (optional, mounted on left arm)

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System

* * *

**ZGMF-X25V Panthera (Kyle Waltfeld)**

**Unit Type: **Prototype Transformable Assault Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **ZGMF-X25V  
**Code Name: **Panthera  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 91  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **ZAFT  
**Operator: **ZAFT

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.00 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **67.96 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Orange and yellow

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x MMI-GAU25A 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x MA-B93 Beam Saber, stored in shoulders  
1 x MA-ZR95 Long-range Beam Rifle, mounted on back  
1 x MMI-790 "Nagelring" Anti-ship Sword (optional, mounted on back)  
1 x MMI-RN40V Aerodynamic Mobile Shield, mounted on left arm  
2 x MA-91R Beam Assault Cannon (Mobile Armour only, mounted overhead)  
4 x MMI-GAU1717 12.5mm CIWS (Mobile Armour only, head-mounted)  
2 x MR-Q37X "Griffon 3" Beam Blade (Mobile Armour only, mounted on wings)

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System

* * *

**ZGMF-X27A Evanescence (Jonathan Trine)**

**Unit Type: **Prototype Close-Quarters Combat Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **ZGMF-X27A  
**Code Name: **Evanescence  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 91  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **ZAFT  
**Operator: **ZAFT

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.03 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **68.00 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Sterling silver and carbon black

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x MMI-GAU25A 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x MMI-GAU3 76mm CIWS, mounted on chest  
2 x MA-B93 Beam Saber, stored in shoulders  
2 x MA-ZR90 High-energy Beam Rifle, mounted on hips  
1 x GMF77 175 mm Grenade Launcher, mounted on back  
-AGM600 "Rapture" Grenade Rounds  
1 x MMI-RN40V Aerodynamic Mobile Shield, mounted on left arm  
1 x MMI-798 "Claíomh Solais" Anti-ship Sword, mounted on back

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System

* * *

**ZGMF-K5718 Envy (Kairi Hawke and Bradley Hawke)**

**Unit Type: **Mass Production Assault Mobile Suit  
**Profile Model Number: **ZGMF-K5718  
**Code Name: **Novus Vultus  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 90  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **Integrated Design Bureau (ZAFT)  
**Operator: **ZAFT

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.12 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **67.97 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Snow white, slate grey, and onyx black

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery with extended energy modules  
Modified Endured Nano-state Battery (only for units operated by Kairi and Bradley)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso

**Armaments  
**2 x MMI-GAU25A 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x MMI-GAU3 76mm CIWS, chest-mounted  
2 x "Switchblade" Combat Knife, mounted on hips  
1 x MMI-777 "Omega" Beam Sword, mounted on back  
1 x MA-ZR95 Long-range Beam Rifle, mounted on back  
1 x MMI-RN41V Aerodynamic Mobile Shield, mounted on left arm

**Special Equipment and Features  
**N.V. Extension Packs  
-1 x MNV-85 "Firebird" Flamethrower (Bradley's unit only, mounted on left shoulder)  
-1 x MNV-86 MASS 28-gauge Beam Shotgun (Bradley's unit only, mounted on right arm)  
-2 x MNV-87 Beam Boomerang (Kairi's unit only, stored in legs)  
-2 x MNV-88 Beam Assault Cannon (Kairi's unit only, mounted on both shoulders)

* * *

**ZGMF-X93X Reflex (Kazunori Asuka)**

**Unit Type: **General Purpose Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **ZGMF-X93X  
**Code Name: **Reflex  
**Developed From: **ZGMF-X54S Impact and ZGMF-X42S Destiny  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 93  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **ZAFT  
**Operator: **ZAFT

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.14 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **70.89 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Reflex blue, garnet red, and white

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x MMI-GAU25A 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x MDX-750C Beam Boomerang, stored on shoulders  
2 x MDX3030 Beam Shield Generator, wrist-mounted  
1 x MDX3600 High-energy Long-range Beam Cannon, mounted on back  
1 x MDX-94F High-energy Beam Rifle (optional, mounted on hip)  
1 x MDX-850R "Galatine" Anti-ship Sword, mounted on back  
1 x MDX-079B "Spear-Head" Crossbow, mounted on hip  
-Plasma Beam Bolts  
-Highly-Explosive (HE) Sticky Bolts  
-Electric Overload (EO) Bolts  
1 x MDX-43V Shield (optional, mounted on left arm)

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System  
Wings of Eternity  
Magnesian Chameleon Adaptive Camouflage System

* * *

**ZGMF-X92X Valhalla (Jörgen Öberg-Rynås)**

**Unit Type: **Close-Quarters Combat Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **ZGMF-X92X  
**Code Name: **Valhalla  
**Developed From: **ZGMF-X50V Ragnarök  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 93  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **ZAFT  
**Operator: **ZAFT

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.10 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **69.50 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Steel grey, cerulean blue, and golden yellow

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x MMI-GAU25A 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x MDX-750C Beam Boomerang, stored in shoulders  
2 x MDX-700A "Daedric" Gauntlets  
1 x MDX-800F Hypersonic Energy Cannon, mounted in mouth-piece of head and chest  
1 x MDX-830H "Mjölnir" Pulse Sledgehammer, mounted on back  
1 x MDX-840R "Skyrim" Anti-ship Sword, mounted on back  
1 x MDX-920M Taurus Energy Pulse Shield, mounted on left arm

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System  
Wings of Eternity  
Magnesian Chameleon Adaptive Camouflage System

* * *

**ZGMF-X58A Galaxy (Akira Yamato)**

**Unit Type: **Assault Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **ZGMF-X58A  
**Code Name: **Galaxy  
**Developed From: **ZGMF-X48A Hercules and ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 93  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **ZAFT  
**Operator: **ZAFT

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.27 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **68.24 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Snow white, slate grey, and navy blue

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x MMI-GAU25A 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x MMI-GAU27D 31mm CIWS, chest-mounted  
2 x MDX-58A Beam Saber, stored in shoulders  
2 x MDX-94F Beam Rifle, mounted on back  
2 x MDX3030 Beam Shield Generator, stored in forearms  
1 x MDX3600 High-energy Long-range Beam Cannon, mounted on back  
1 x METEOR Unit

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System  
Multi-Lock Weapons System  
Wings of Eternity  
Magnesian Chameleon Adaptive Camouflage System  
METEOR Hardpoint Docking  
High-Mobility Aerial Tactics (HiMAT) System

* * *

**ZGMF-X30A Absolute Freedom (Kira Yamato)**

**Unit Type: **Assault Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **ZGMF-X30A  
**Code Name: **Absolute Freedom  
**Developed From: **ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom and ZGMF-X48A Hercules  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 92  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **ZAFT  
**Operator: **ZAFT

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.53 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **71.02 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Royal blue, snow white, and gold

**Power-plant: **Hyper-Deuterion Nuclear Reactor  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Variable Phase-Shift Armour

**Armaments  
**11 x ACPF-3X Archos DRAGOON mobile weapon wing  
-1 x VT-X Beam Assault Cannon  
-1 x VT-256A Beam Saber  
-1 x VT-512A Beam Boomerang  
2 x MT-32A 31mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x MT-64A Beam Saber, stored in shoulders  
1 x MT-128A Multi-phase Beam Cannon, mounted on torso  
2 x MT-016A Railgun, mounted on back  
2 x MT1337 Beam Shield Generator, stored in forearms

**Special Equipment and Features  
**METEOR Hardpoint Docking  
High-Mobility Aerial Tactics (HiMAT) System  
-4 x Modified "Voiture Lumière" booster engine (Wings of Light)  
Neutron Jammer Canceller  
Multi-Lock Weapons System  
Archos DRAGOON System  
UniCOM Transmissions Module

* * *

**ZGMF-X49X Destiny Impulse (Shinn Asuka)**

**Unit Type: **General Multi-Purpose Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **ZGMF-X49X  
**Code Name: **Destiny Impulse  
**Developed From: **ZGMF-X42S Destiny and ZGMF-X56S Impulse  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 92  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **ZAFT  
**Operator: **ZAFT

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **17.92 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **70.49 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Cobalt blue, ghost white, and scarlet red

**Power-plant: **Hyper-Deuterion Nuclear Reactor  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Variable Phase-Shift Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x MMI-GAU26 17.5mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x MMI-X540 "Palma Lancia" Palm Beam Cannon, mounted in hands  
2 x MX2351 "Solidus Fulgor" Beam Shield Generator, wrist-mounted  
2 x RQM77T "Razor's Edge" Beam Boomerang, stored on shoulders  
2 x MMI-814 "Arondight II" Anti-ship Sword Dual-blade Combination, stored behind wings  
1 x M3000GX High-energy Long-range Beam Cannon, mounted on hip

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Wings of Light  
Neutron Jammer Canceller

* * *

**ZGMF-X45X Impulse Destiny (Lunamaria Hawke-Asuka)**

**Unit Type: **General Multi-Purpose Assault Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **ZGMF-X45X  
**Code Name: **Impulse Destiny  
**Developed From: **ZGMF-X56S Impulse and ZGMF-X42S Destiny  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 92  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **ZAFT  
**Operator: **ZAFT

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **17.92 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **70.49 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Cobalt blue, ghost white, and scarlet red

**Power-plant: **Hyper-Deuterion Nuclear Reactor  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso using Core Splendor  
**Armour: **Variable Phase-Shift Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x MMI-GAU26 17.5mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x M81-AAK "Flex Blade" Anti-armor Knife, stored in hips  
2 x M3000GX High-energy Long-range Beam Cannon, mounted on hips  
1 x MMI-810 "Excalibur II" Anti-ship Sword, mounted on back  
1 x MMI-RN42V Aerodynamic Mobile Shield, mounted on left arm  
1 x MA-ZR90 High-energy Beam Rifle, mounted on back

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Wings of Light  
Core Block System (YFX-M45X Core Splendor)


	3. ORB AND AF MS INFORMATION

_**Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Reflex**_

**LIST OF MOBILE SUITS AND INFORMATION (PART II)**

* * *

**MBF-N19A Nexus Justice (Leon Uzumi Zala)**

**Unit Type: **Prototype Close-Quarters Combat Mobile Suit  
**Profile Model Number: **MBF-N19A  
**Code Name: **Nexus Justice  
**Developed From: **ZGMF-X09A Justice and ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 91  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **Morgenroete, Inc.  
**Operator: **Orb Union

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.73 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **74.54 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Carbon black, crimson red, and neon green

**Power Source: **Heavily Modified Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**4 x MMI-GAU1 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x MMI-GAU26 17.5mm CIWS, chest-mounted  
1 x Fatum-NX Backpack/Sub-flight Lifter  
-1 x NX-300A Lifter Tip Beam Saber  
-2 x NX-500A Beam Cannon  
-2 x NX-310S Retracted Short Beam Saber  
-2 x MR-Q37X "Griffon 3" Beam Blade  
2 x NXW90 Beam Boomerang  
2 x NX-M02G "Nexus Lacerta" Beam Saber  
2 x NX-M91L 45mm Beam Carbine

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Ultrawave Wireless Energy Charging System  
High-Mobility Aerial Tactics (HiMAT) System

* * *

**MVF-M35A Kawakaze (Kenneth Connery, Phillip Dalton, and Cyrus Grant-Williams)**

**Unit Type: **Mass Production Transformable Mobile Suit  
**Profile Model Number: **MVF-M35A  
**Code Name: **Kawakaze  
**Developed From: **MVF-11C Murasame and MBF-P01 Astray Gold Frame  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 90  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **Morgenroete, Inc.  
**Operator: **Orb Union

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **17.68 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **46.34 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Crimson red, carbon black, and golden yellow

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB) with extended energy modules  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso

**Armaments  
**2 x "Igelstellung" 75 mm multi-barrel CIWS, head-mounted  
4 x M3M5D 12.5mm CIWS, chest-mounted  
1 x Type 79A Ikari Beam Saber  
1 x Type 89 High-energy Beam Cannon  
1 x Anti-air Missile Launcher  
-4 x Type 77A Air-to-air Missile "Black Hayate"  
1 x Fortified Shield

**Optional Equipment  
**1 x Type 90 Beam Rifle  
-MASS 28-gauge Beam Shotgun Underslung Attachment

* * *

**ORB-88 Hachiman (Leon Uzumi Zala)**

**Unit Type: **Custom Multi-Mode Mobile Suit  
**Profile Model Number: **ORB-88  
**Code Name: **Hachiman  
**Developed From: **ORB-01 Akatsuki and ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 93  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **Morgenroete, Inc.  
**Operator: **Orb Union

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.82 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **72.64 metric tons  
-** Weight (with Backpack): **77.00 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Golden yellow

**Power Source: **Ultra-capacitance Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x MSM5D 12.5mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x MR-Q37X "Griffon 3" Beam Blade  
1 x Type-82J3 Twin Beam Saber  
1 x Model-88 Defence Shield

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Backpack Hardpoint Mount  
"Yata-no-Kagami 2" Anti-beam Reflection System

**Optional Equipment  
**"Omoikane" Combination Pack  
-2 x Type-73F modified high-energy beam cannon  
-5 x guided mobile beam turret system:  
-M531R remote control unit (beam cannon; 2 x beam gun; beam shield emitter)

* * *

**ZGMF-X29A Almighty Justice (Athrun Zala)**

**Unit Type: **Close-Quarters Combat Mobile Suit  
**Profile Model Number: **ZGMF-X29A  
**Code Name: **Almighty Justice  
**Developed From: **ZGMF-X09A Justice, ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice, and ZGMF-X23S Saviour  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 92  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Manufacturer: **Orb Union  
**Operator: **Orb Union

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.69 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **75.4 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Crimson red, carbon black, and golden yellow

**Power-plant: **Hyper-Deuterion Nuclear Reactor  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Variable Phase-Shift Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x MT-24A 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
4 x MT-48A 17.5mm CIWS, chest-mounted  
1 x Fatum-N93 Backpack/Sub-flight Lifter  
- 1 x VT-X43 "MIKE" High-powered Directed-energy Emitter  
- 1 x VT-192A "Superior Fortis" Long-range Beam Assault Cannon  
- 2 x MR-Q37X "Griffon 3" Beam Blade  
- 2 x VT-96A Beam Machete  
2 x MA-ZR95 Long-range Beam Rifle  
2 x MT-96A Beam Saber  
2 x MT-192A Beam Boomerang  
1 x "Force Multiplier" Scalar Anti-ship Sword

**Special Equipment and Features  
**METEOR Hardpoint Docking  
High-Aerial Mobility Tactics (HiMAT) System  
-4 x Modified "Voiture Lumière" booster engine (Wings of Light)  
Neutron Jammer Canceller

**Optional Equipment  
**METEOR Unit

* * *

**GAT-X930 Strike Falcon (Samuel La Flaga)**

**Unit Type: **Transformable Multi-Mode Counter-Insurgency Mobile Suit  
**Profile Model Number: **GAT-X930  
**Code Name: **Strike Falcon  
**Developed From: **GAT-X105 Strike and GAT-X399 Wild Dagger  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 90  
**Launched: **C.E. 92  
**Manufacturer: **Atlantic Federation  
**Operator: **Atlantic Federation Military

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **17.96 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **62.85 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Snow white, carbon black, and orange

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x 75mm Multi-barrel Anti-air CIWS  
2 x "Switchblade" Combat Knife  
1 x 46mm Gatling Machine Gun  
1 x 175mm Multipurpose Smoothbore Tail Cannon  
1 x Multipurpose Turret  
-Beam Cannons  
-Missile Launchers  
1 x Shield

* * *

**GAT-909 Windam Mk. III (Elias Marlowe and Henry Montes)**

**Unit Type: **Mass Production General Purpose Multi-Mode Mobile Suit  
**Profile Model Number: **GAT-909  
**Code Name: **Windam Mk. III  
**Manufactured: **C.E. 89  
**Launched: **C.E. 91  
**Manufacturer: **Atlantic Federation  
**Operator: **Atlantic Federation Military

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.76 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **59.83 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Snow white, dark blue, and orange

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso

**Armaments  
**4 x M3M5 12.5mm Automatic CIWS  
2 x ES06B Beam Saber  
2 x Mk335 Rocket-Propelled Anti-Armor Penetrator  
1 x A55 Offensive Shield Type E  
-Mk458/B Dual Multipurpose Missile

**Optional Equipment  
**M9500L Beam Rifle


	4. NAT EURASIA AND KS MS INFORMATION

_**Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Reflex**_

**LIST OF MOBILE SUITS AND INFORMATION (PART III)**

* * *

**NFF-1000A Chernarus (Aleksandr Sablin)**

**Unit Type: **General Purpose Assault Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **NFF-1000A  
**Code Name: **Chernarus  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Operator: **Nationalist Eurasia

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.35 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **70.07 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Snow white, dark blue, scarlet red, and carbon black

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x NFA-F75H 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
4 x NFA-F76C 31mm CIWS, chest-mounted  
2 x NFA-B420 Beam Saber  
2 x NFA-C870 Beam Boomerang  
1 x NFA-BR90 Beam Rifle  
1 x NFA-S12K Beam Shotgun  
1 x NFA-A300 Aerodynamic Mobile Shield

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System

* * *

**NFF-1000B Espada (Con la Oscuridad)**

**Unit Type: **Close-Quarters Combat Mobile Suit  
**Profile Model Number: **NFF-1000B  
**Code Name: **Espada  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Operator: **Nationalist Eurasia

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.10 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **68.03 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Scarlet red, golden yellow, and olive green

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x NFA-F75H 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
4 x NFA-F76C 31mm CIWS, chest-mounted  
2 x NFA-B420 Beam Saber  
2 x NFA-C870 Beam Boomerang  
Espada Extension Pack  
-1 x NFA-B808A "Tizona" Beam Sword (combinable with "Colada")  
-1 x NFA-B808B "Colada" Beam Sword (combinable with "Tizona")  
-1 x NFA-B838S "Lobera" Anti-ship Sword  
1 x NFA-A300 Aerodynamic Mobile Shield

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System

* * *

**NFF-1000C Virtus (Astrid Milgardt)**

**Unit Type: **Transformable Assault Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **NFF-1000C  
**Code Name: **Virtus  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Operator: **Nationalist Eurasia

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.05 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **67.98 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Indigo, turquoise, and silver

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x NFA-F75H 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
2 x NFA-B420 Beam Saber  
2 x NFA-BP60 Beam Pistol  
2 x NFA-V820 Beam Assault Cannon (Mobile Armour only, mounted overhead)  
6 x NFA-F77C 76mm CIWS (Mobile Armour only, chest-mounted)  
2 x NFA-B510 Beam Blade (Mobile Armour only, mounted on wings)  
1 x NFA-A350S Beam Shield

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System

* * *

**NFF-1000D Grenadier (Clotaire L'Ecuyer)**

**Unit Type: **Heavy Assault Mobile Suit  
**Profile Model Number: **NFF-1000D  
**Code Name: **Grenadier  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Operator: **Nationalist Eurasia

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.24 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **69.02 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Army green, light orange, and beige

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x NFA-F75H 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
6 x NFA-F77C 76mm CIWS, chest-mounted  
2 x NFA-B420 Beam Saber  
2 x NFA-BP60 Beam Pistol  
2 x NFA-V820 Beam Assault Cannon  
1 x NFA-BR90 Beam Rifle  
-125mm Grenade Launcher Underslung Attachment  
1 x NFA-40ML Quadruple Missile Launcher  
-EGM380 "Enfer" Guided Missiles

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System  
Multi-Lock Weapons System

* * *

**NFF-1000E Divination (Lance d'Orazio)**

**Unit Type: **Multi-Purpose Mobile Suit  
**Profile Model Number: **NFF-1000E  
**Code Name: **Divination  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Operator: **Nationalist Eurasia

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.16 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **68.83 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Catalina blue and carbon black

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x NFA-F75H 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
6 x NFA-F76C 31mm CIWS, chest-mounted  
1 x NFA-B501S Beam-tipped Ballistic Knife

_Agility Extension_  
-2 x NFA-B420 Beam Saber  
-1 x NFA-BR90 Beam Rifle  
-Ionic Wave Propulsion System

_Blade Extension_  
-2 x NFA-B800S Beam Sword  
-1 x NFA-C870 Beam Boomerang

_Marine Extension_  
-2 x NFA-BR90 Beam Rifle  
-2 x NFA-BAC3 Beam Assault Cannon

_Covert Extension_  
-1 x NFA-BR90S Supressed Beam Rifle  
-1 x NFA-A390S Covert Mobile Shield  
-2 x NFA-B420 Beam Saber  
-Magnesian Chameleon Adaptive Camouflage System

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System  
Divination Extension Packs  
-Agility Extension  
-Blade Extension  
-Marine Extension  
-Covert Extension

* * *

**NFF-1000F Strike Nero (Damiano Kreigher)**

**Unit Type: **General Multi-Mode Mobile Suit  
**Profile Model Number: **NFF-1000F  
**Code Name: **Strike Nero  
**Developed From: **GAT-X105E+AQM/E-X09S Strike Noir and GAT-X207SR Nero Blitz  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Operator: **Nationalist Eurasia

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **17.98 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **86.12 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Dark black, carbon black, silver, and light yellow

**Power Source: **Custom Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x NFA-M3M5 12.5mm Automatic CIWS  
4 x NFA2358 Rocket Anchor  
2 x NFA-CB1 Compact Beam Rifle  
Strike Nero Extension Pack  
-2 x NFA-B510 Beam Blade  
-NFA2400T Rocket Anchor  
-2 x NFA-M60A5 Linked Linear Gun  
Grappling Arms  
Lancer Darts

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Extension Pack Hardpoint  
Enhanced Power Unit

* * *

**VAMF-9300T Nirvana (Anders Gunvaldsson)**

**Unit Type: **Heavy Assault Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **VAMF-9300T  
**Code Name: **Nirvana  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Operator: **Kingdom of Scadinavia

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.50 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **74.22 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Snow white, slate grey, dark blue, and black

**Power-plant: **Ultracompact Deuterion Nano-state Hybrid (UDNH)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Compound Phase-Shift Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x SMW-G120H 12.5mm CIWS, head-mounted  
4 x SMW-G125C 31mm CIWS, chest-mounted  
2 x SMW-B570 Beam Boomerang  
2 x SMW-L875 High-energy Long-range Beam Cannon  
2 x SMW-L850 Beam Assault Cannon  
2 x SMW-LR83 Railgun  
1 x SMW-S787 "Balmung" Anti-ship Sword  
1 x SMW-A500 Beam Shield

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Multi-Lock Weapons System  
Neutron Jammer Canceller

* * *

**NFF-1001D Sabre Grenadier (Clotaire L'Ecuyer)**

**Unit Type: **Close-Quarters Combat Mobile Suit  
**Profile Model Number: **NFF-1001D  
**Code Name: **Sabre Grenadier  
**Variant Of: **NFF-1000D Grenadier  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Operator: **Nationalist Eurasia

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.24 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **72.95 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Army green, carbon black, and light orange

**Power Source: **Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x NFA-F75H 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
6 x NFA-F77C 76mm CIWS, chest-mounted  
2 x NFA-B420 Beam Saber  
2 x NFA-B91K Anti-armour Knife  
2 x NFA-C870 Beam Boomerang  
1 x NFA-B800S Beam Sword  
1 x NFA-B878S "Flamberge" Anti-ship Sword  
1 x NFA-A300 Aerodynamic Mobile Shield

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Lumina Photon Energy Transfer System

* * *

**NFF-3000B Conquistador (Con la Oscuridad)**

**Unit Type: **Assault Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **NFF-3000B  
**Code Name: **Conquistador  
**Developed From: **NFF-1000B Espada  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Operator: **Nationalist Eurasia

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.40 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **69.87 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Fiery red, golden yellow, and carbon black

**Power Source: **Ultra-capacitance Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x NFA-F75H 20mm CIWS, head-mounted  
4 x NFA-F77C 76mm CIWS, chest-mounted  
2 x NFA-B480 Beam Saber  
2 x NFA-B510 Beam Blade  
2 x NFA-V600S 30mm Rotary Beam Cannon  
2 x NFA-V820 Beam Assault Cannon  
1 x NFA3950 Beam Carry Shield  
-UA60 Grapple Stinger  
-C895 Beam Boomerang

**Special Equipment and Features  
**METEOR Hardpoint Docking  
High-Mobility Aerial Tactics (HiMAT) System  
-Modified Ionic Wave Propulsion System (Wings of Conquest)  
Magnesian Chameleon Adaptive Camouflage System

**Optional Equipment  
**METEOR Unit

* * *

**NFF-9300A Supreme Chernarus (Aleksandr Sablin)**

**Unit Type: **General Purpose Mobile Weapon  
**Profile Model Number: **NFF-9300A  
**Code Name: **Supreme Chernarus  
**Developed From: **NFF-1000A Chernarus  
**Launched: **C.E. 93  
**Operator: **Nationalist Eurasia

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height: **18.50 metres  
**- Empty Weight: **75.07 metric tons  
**- Colours: **Snow white, burning red, navy blue, and onyx black

**Power-plant: **Ultracompact Deuterion Nano-state Hybrid (UDNH)  
**Accommodation: **Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour: **Compound Phase-Shift Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x NFA-F76C 31mm CIWS, head-mounted  
4 x NFA-F77H 76mm CIWS, chest-mounted  
10 x NFAS-3X DRANZER Mobile Weapon Wing  
-2 x NFA-B490S Compact Beam Saber  
-1 x NFA-B510 Beam Boomerang  
2 x NFA-R600 Railgun  
2 x NFA4000 Beam Shield Generator  
1 x NFA-V990S Multi-phase Beam Cannon  
1 x NFA-B995S "Kladenets" Anti-ship Sword

**Special Equipment and Features  
**Multi-Lock Weapons System  
DRANZER System  
High-Mobility Aerial Tactics (HiMAT) System  
-Modified Ionic Wave Propulsion System (Wings of Conquest)  
Neutron Jammer Canceller  
Magnesian Chameleon Adaptive Camouflage System


	5. PHASE-01: Dire Straits

**Author's Note: **Hey guys, what's happening? I know there hasn't been a whole lot of activity (at least on the fan-fiction side), and I have been putting off a lot of time in my first year at university. That, which, is probably the main reason why I haven't spent much time writing what I like to write! Anyway, here is the very first multi-chapter story in the Gundam SEED series, and the focus of the story will shift away from the original conflict between the Naturals and the Coordinators, into something familiar. This fanfiction will be more darker and edgier than in both the original anime series and its direct sequel, which means it will contain more violent details, gratuitous language, and—eventually in future chapters—sex. Yes, there will be lemon scenes, but not too explicit in details. With all of that being mentioned, I shall discuss no further and let you read the first chapter. Enjoy!

**Full Summary: **Twenty-two, twenty, and eighteen years have passed since the beginnings of the First, Second, and Third Bloody Valentine Wars, respectively. The conflicts between the Naturals and the Coordinators have been long diminished after years of fighting and clashes, and have since been long at peace. However, a new conflict arises when an investigation on the deaths of a group of ZAFT soldiers is traced to an organization hell-bent on taking over a nation involved in the second war, and its true intentions that could spell the end of civilization of both the Earth and PLANTs. Knowing the damned consequences, both ZAFT and the Orb Union join forces together to maintain the ever-lasting peace that both genetic races have lived under for the longest time.

* * *

"_War…war is a terrifying word to be mentioned of."_

**Cosmic Era 73: The Second Bloody Valentine War begins with the "Break the World" incident, in which an attempted (and failed) colony drop on the Earth was conducted by rogue ZAFT personnel loyal to the late Patrick Zala. In the months following the incident, a countless number of lives were lost and widespread destruction of cities and nations ensued. The Eurasian Federation, a nation involved in the war, suffers one of the highest civilian casualty rates and faces severe destruction of its habitats since the first war.**

"_Who does it hurt? Everyone. Who does it benefit? Nobody, but those who sought for it. I was not one of those who had sought for it; I became a victim of it instead."_

**Cosmic Era 74: The Second Bloody Valentine War ends with a peace treaty between both sides involved in the war.**

"_I lost my family to it, including my beloved sister. It took away the woman that I knew and cared much about. Never had I felt being trapped in the pool of hatred, confusion, and insanity like I had before. It tore me apart, slowly but surely."_

**Cosmic Era 75: The Third Bloody Valentine War begins when an organization under the name of "Librarian Works" fights against the three factions, and breaks the peace between the Earth and the PLANTs. **

"_War is just nothing but a way to destroy innocent lives—soldiers and civilians alike. Physically and emotionally."_

**Cosmic Era 76: The Third Bloody Valentine War ends with the defeat of Librarian Works. During the same year, a two-year-old inquiry conducted by PLANT officials reaches a conclusion that sees several recommendations, including the dissolution of FAITH (the elite Special Forces unit involved during the second war). All of these recommendations were put in place a few months after the inquiry.**

"_All that pain and anger I suffered during that course of my life, it wasn't the true definition of me. Only war was responsible for this…suffering."_

**Cosmic Era 77: The Earth Alliance is formally dissolved, as the nations of the Atlantic Federation, the Eurasian Federation, the Republic of East Asia, the South Africa Union, and the United States of South America agree to co-operate on mutual terms. The news of the dissolution sparks outrage amongst already indignant groups of pro-naturals, resulting in deadly terrorist attacks at coordinator settlements (including some ZAFT military outposts). A major incident known as the "December City Massacre" had resulted in the tragic deaths of 44 coordinators (including 24 children) at an elementary institution in the colony of December Four, caused by suspected undercover Blue Cosmos belligerents. **

"_But no matter what I went through during all of it, there was going to be a way out for me. Yet, it had taken me the longest time in this godforsaken world to find the way out of this…illusive nightmare that used to be me."_

**Cosmic Era 79: Two years following the dissolution of the Earth Alliance, the Eurasian Federation faces a disastrous, economic decline combined with severe food shortages, famine, and poverty. Living civilians are angered by the lack of government response. However, during the same year, an attempted assassination on PLANT Supreme Council Chairwoman Lacus Clyne forces her decision to resign one year later. This does not come without a drastic response that would see the implementation of a new Special Forces unit…**

"_By that time I had found my way out, there were those who were on my side; those who truly served to protect the innocent world, and the whole meaning of peace."_

**Cosmic Era 80: The elite Special Forces unit, the Specters, are established under the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty (ZAFT) by Chairwoman Lacus Clyne. They are well-trained and tasked in infantry combat that utilises covert tactics, and are deployed in times when international peace is threatened. **

**Cosmic Era 81: Eurasian scientist/innovator Evgeniy Mudrov begins research and development on new technology for protective wear suited for military combat, with an active form of adaptive camouflage that renders the wearer difficult to see for others.**

**Cosmic Era 82: Remnants of hostile Blue Cosmos elements and suspected pro-natural radicals are eliminated by sweeping covert operations of the Specter units, along with radical coordinator movements.**

"_With those who served to protect the peace, however, there were also those who want to break it."_

**Cosmic Era 83: The ultra-nationalist movement is formed in the Eurasian Federation under several key figures, including former military officials and rebels who fought against the Atlantic Federation in the second war. In the next five years, the movement gains enough strength in numbers to form a personal army.**

"_Now, I wanted to serve not only for myself into this, but for the future of the innocent, the future of all mankind."_

**Cosmic Era 85: Changes in leadership have seen the Atlantic Federation take an open stance towards Coordinators. Other super-states follow suit and are more open towards Coordinators.**

"_Only those who want to shatter the very existence of the concord are those who are soulless, twisted individuals with a corrupt mindset for the desire of power, greed, and pride."_

**Cosmic Era 88: On the day that the super-state was established, the ultra-nationalists begin a rebellion against the slowly-weakening Eurasian government starting from the eastern end of the nation. The rebellion is nearly crushed by the Eurasian military, but not before the outnumbering personnel of the movement begins to seize the eastern half of the nation.**

"_They're the ones who would eventually be responsible the deaths of innocents and the destruction of cities and environments. I have no sympathy for those fools."_

**Cosmic Era 89: Evgeniy Mudrov is abducted and captured by ultra-nationalist Eurasian forces, and is placed under house arrest with heavy security watch. Several months later, he is rescued by one of the ZAFT Specter Teams, where the scientist hands them blueprints of the designs for the new infantry suits long in the making. **

"_If there is anything, just anything that I've gone through in my entire life going through Hell and back…"_

**Cosmic Era 90: The Atlantic Federation deploys covert military operations to assist the loyalist Eurasians that are countering the emerging ultra-nationalist movement. Despite the best efforts of the A.F. military, it ends unsuccessfully in a few years.**

"_My son…my only child…if there is anything that I've learned in the past…"_

**Cosmic Era 91: Fortified Camouflage Suits (FCS), the new infantry uniforms, are introduced to ZAFT's Specter Teams. **

"…_anything about war and all of its relevance in this world…"_

**Cosmic Era 93: **_**The present.**_

"…_it is the fact that war becomes inevitable, as long as there are those who are fighting for the peace, and those who are fighting against it."_

_-Shinn Asuka, C.E. 93._

* * *

**Voltage Axe Presents**

_**Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Reflex**_

**PHASE-01: Dire Straits**

* * *

_**One month prior…**_

**January 7, C.E. 93  
****Andes Mountains, Peru, United States of South America  
****0900 Hours**

The inside of a militarized, four-wheel drive motor vehicle was hot, stuffy, and muggy to the three men who were occupying it. It was even hotter than it was considered to be on the outside, and that the outdoors was also humid as well. One man in a camouflage-schemed shirt and pants relaxed in the back seat of the vehicle, fanning himself with his own hand in an attempt to relieve himself from all of the heat. He turned his head slightly to make out the leathered boots of his fellow comrade, who stood next to him in the gunner's position of the vehicle. His comrade turned to him and smiled for a quick moment, before he focused his sights back in front of him, his hands firmly gripping the handles of a mounted machine rifle fixed to the roof. The man sitting in the back then turned his sights to the view in front of him, through the front windshield.

In front of the four-wheel drive motor vehicle was another militarized 4WD vehicle, and in front of that vehicle, a military cargo truck with a camouflage cover sheet over the cargo bed. It was a convoy of these vehicles that were travelling down the dangerous, winding gravel and dirt roads of the Andes. They were transporting something that would seem to necessitate serious investigation by the local authorities, but they had eluded them in the midst of their planning.

Several moments passed by, as the convoy of vehicles continued to travel their way down the rocky roads of the majestic Andes. A small, plastic figurine of what seemed to be a pole dancer in a mid-slide down position had dangled up and down and about, tied to the string as the vehicle shook mildly while it travelled down the bumpy road. At the same time, an empty aluminum can had rolled back and forth on the hardened top of the dashboard. The driver, sporting a dusty-green field cap, continued to focus on the road and the pair of vehicles in front of him. The man in the back continued to relax on the blazing seat, feeling all sticky around with sweat hanging down his back and dripping down his forehead and all.

To him, things seemed to be going well. It was quite going smoothly, in fact. It was as if everything had never gone wrong the whole day.

As the two vehicles in front of the driver were about to take a left turn, a large ball of fire burst in front of the driver's eyes, complimented with blasts of blinding, thick black smoke and dust, completed with deafening explosions that shook the vehicle itself. At the same time the armoured vehicle in front had swerved violently to a stop, a small and sharp projectile blasted its way through the front windshield of the vehicle, and pierced through the skull of the unsuspected driver. The man sitting in the back was caught off-guard as he was covered in his comrade's blood that had been splattered from the back of his head.

The now-fallen driver had lost control of the vehicle, and the only last sights and sounds that the man in the back had experienced, were his other comrade on the mounted gunner's position yelling something indistinguishable in Spanish, and the vehicle flipping over and over with violent force. Both men were knocked out cold in an instant as the vehicle finally settled.

Several metres away from the whole scene unfolding, thin, white smoke billowed off of the barrel of a .50 caliber sniper rifle. It was held by a man in the prone position, dressed in camouflage of diluted shades of green, topped with a field cap and headset, specialized shades, and a cloth covering his face. The name tape that was patched on the soldier's uniform had read out "Adams", the surname whom he was identified as.

"_Call your targets. We'll take them all at once."_ He communicated to another man, whose name tape read out "Dion", in the same prone position with a different sniper rifle.

Yells of panic and outrage in Spanish echoed away towards their position, as the man peered through the holographic sights of his marksman rifle. Through the crosshairs of his magnified scope, he could make out a strange logo clear enough to be seen on the camouflage cover sheet of the cargo truck, before he turned his sights to the burning wreckage of the first armoured 4WD. Two men were dragging out one of their fallen comrades away from the flaming vehicle that was up on its wheels. Another two men were covering their positions with assault rifles armed in their hands, as the other two had tended to their fallen friend who had not responded for another minute or so.

Dion, the man peering through the scope, confirmed everything. _"Targets marked."_

The man with the field cap next to him then had begun the countdown. Dion had his sights on the closest man tending to the unresponsive person lying on the ground.

"_Five…four…three…two…one…"_

A deep breath was taken in, before the trigger was pulled.

In an instant, the militant covering the right was taken out in a huge spray of blood as the bullet connected. The three other militia personnel were also shot down in a burst of .50 caliber bullets, as they fell down to the ground hard, their rifles falling away from their hands.

"_Pop smoke!"_

A series of loud bangs and flashes of light were emitted as large vapours of white smoke were dispersed and accumulated around where the main transport truck was metres away from their positions.

"_Secure the convoy! Engage the targets!"_

Right away, both men got off their sniper rifles and began to hook themselves off the side of the rocky hill. They were joined by two other men who also were dressed in the same camouflage and military gear as the first two had. Their name tapes had read out "Ando" and "Snowden", respectively.

"_Close on the target. Hook in, let's go!"_

As the rest of the militia personnel in the convoy had continued shouting in their home language in the distance, the four men rappelled down the cliff-side and landed on the dry terrain of the road.

"_Move up!"_

The four men began advancing slowly around the bend of the turn, opposite of the now-disjointed convoy of vehicles with the thickened smoke covered all over. The first man of the four—Adams—began to rush forward, armed with a semi-automatic assault rifle, as the other militia personnel began to spot them and began firing.

Shots rang out everywhere, as the man with the semi-automatic rifle took aim and fired into the smoke, resulting in an unsuspected Peruvian man falling down in front with a sound.

The man in charge of the group of four signalled for the use of thermal vision. _"Activate thermals!"_

All four activated their thermal optics, allowing them see the heat signatures radiating off in the distance through all of this obstructive smoke. Bullets continued to fly, most of them going by the bodies, but not through of all four soldiers still in motion.

"_Left, watch that left!"_

One of the four soldiers began firing their assault rifles, and had shot down another militiaman who tried to take cover. This time, it was Ando who took that kill.

"_Target down!"_

"_Nailed one!"_

Snowden ran ahead and fired, as he advanced past the flaming wreckage of the vehicle. Bullets were whizzing by them.

"_Watch it!"_

The other three kept close to the soldier in front, as they began firing back at the Latin American guerillas who took cover behind their vehicles and retaliated by firing their guns. However, one-by-one, they all were outshot by the squad of four soldiers who began to push up towards to their target objective.

"_Target down!" _Dion shouted in the radio communications, as his bullets connected with a militiaman taking cover behind the second armoured 4WD.

As soon as they got to one of the transport trucks, they had spotted the last militia personnel of the convoy, and began to gun him down in a hail of bullets before he could even pull the trigger on them. Adams noted that there was no one left in their way to stop them, and yet his grip remained firmly on the handle and the foregrip of his rifle. Blood was splayed everywhere, but the only blood that was covering all around the site of the battle, had only came from the now-soulless Peruvian militants.

"_That's it, we're clear."_

The four men slowly advanced to inspect if any others were out there, their rifles lowered and held securely. They were prepared to engage again, should they encounter more of what they had been against in the whole duration from the starting point up to right now. It was especially in the very heated atmosphere, in which it intensified with the flames and dissipating smoke everywhere.

Adams, the team leader of the four, confirmed their completion of one of their objectives. _"Command, Roman has secured the convoy."_

"_Copy, Roman. Get a feed on that cargo, we'll verify from there."_

"_Roger."_

The lead man of the squad then turned his eyes to the back of the cargo truck, before he turned back to his squad-mates, to signal at them to come forward.

"Form up on me!"

As soon as all four men regrouped, they began to approach the rear end of the vehicle, pacing slowly towards it with their semi-automatic rifles pointed at the opening of the back end.

"Eyes up." Adams strafed inches and inches close towards the rear door, before he slowly lowered his rifle. "I don't want any surprises here."

Snowden, who was beside Adams on his right, pulled on one handle of the cargo truck's rear door and lifted the door down so that the team leader could have access from the back of the vehicle. He began to raise his rifle and aimed at the opening again, as Adams determined that there was no initial danger in front of him. The leader of the squad then turned on the flashlight that was mounted onto his helmet, as he climbed up into the cargo bed of the truck. The other three men began to take watch over their leader as they trained their rifles towards the opening of the military vehicle. It was already a tense situation for Adams, who began to search for anything important that the South American militants were carrying in their convoy. The inside of the cargo bed was filled with almost complete shades of darkness, aided by the fact that everything in there was covered up by the sheet around the hard-top. Fortunately, with the helmet-mounted flashlight, Adams could make out at least some of the materials that were stored on the bed of the cargo truck.

As Adams swung his head to left for a brief second before turning to the right, his eyes captured something critical that he had probably never even seen in his whole military career. The flashlight had shone upon a large, metallic piece shaped like a warhead that was sitting in a metallic cage of sorts. As Adams shifted his head a bit higher, he could make out that same, strange logo emblazoned on the inverse side of the cover sheet. It was composed of the upper-half of a sun cross, completed below with a stylized letter "Z" inverted and flipped 90 degrees clockwise, and a transversal stroke at the center of the flipped letter. This made Adams even more nervous, as he retrained his focus on the large piece of metal in front of him.

"Command, are you reading this?" Adams directed the video feed towards the warhead.

A brief silence followed, before the head operator replied through the built-in headset. _"Roger, we're capturing it right now. We'll do a comparison to be sure, but it's looking good right now."_

"Copy that." The team leader then began to inspect every side of the seemingly-harmless contraption whilst crouched, unaware of the tragic circumstances about to take play through the next several moments.

As soon as Adams finished inspecting almost every side of the contraption, he began to shift away from the warhead and began to focus back towards the exit out of the cargo bed. Without warning, a distinct electronic beeping noise began to emit from where the warhead contraption was, combined with dull vibrating noises in the mix. Adams heard the long, quieted noise going off repeatedly as he was about to disembark, causing him to suddenly turn 'round and directed his focus towards the device again.

Adams tensed up at the sound. "What the hell?"

He quickly strafed and returned back to the location of the warhead, his flashlight directed at the metallic piece of weaponry. The first thing he noticed was the origin of the vibrating and beeping sounds. In front of his eyes, was a compartment jutting out of the one side of the metallic cage. He pulled down the thin cover of the compartment, only to find what had made him deeply horrified on the inside.

The warhead was rigged. It was wired to a series of remote detonators and a few packs of plastic explosives. And it was about to go off in a moment.

As soon as the video feed captured all of this from Adams' visor, the head operator was also shocked and horrified at the sight as well.

"_Roman, get the HELL out of there NOW!"_

With no delay on his reflexes, Adams quickly began to scramble out of the cargo truck and frantically warned his unsuspected squad-mates of the fatal danger that was about to be let wrought upon them.

"_**BOMB!**_ _GET CLEAR, GET CLEAR!_ **MOVE!**"

Dion, Ando, and Snowden heard their leader's panicked screams as he rushed out the opening and began to sprint away from the impending detonation of the warhead. They had also began to bolt away from their previously known positions, the new fear now instilled in their bodies as they started to run away from the truck.

"RUN! GO, GO, GO, GO! LET'S GET THE _FUCK_ OUT OF HERE—" Adams continued to scream, sprinting past the last of the stopped armoured 4WDs, just before the inevitable happened.

As he ran past the last stopped vehicle, he heard a loud, deafening explosion right behind him. Time began to slow down, as he began to feel the bursts of heat radiating down on him, forcing him to turn his head around and seeing a blinding flash of flight encompassing his vision. The force of the blast had kicked up a monumental amount of air and ominously dense clouds of swampy-coloured dust, sending it all pushing past through the radius where it had also started to consume the four men, one-by-one. With his vision about to be wholly blinded, he could only make out the armoured vehicle that he had just passed by, being knocked upwards into the air by the fierce push of the explosion before being consumed by it. Another truck was also not so lucky, and neither was Snowden, who happened to be way behind the pack scrambling out of there. Snowden's body was lifted by the explosion from the feet up, before also engulfing him too.

The force of the explosion had finally got to Adams, where the blinding light finally covered his eyes completely. He could feel, just before he quickly blacked out, the forceful, expanding air knocking his feet off the ground and sending his body tumbling all over. The blinding light in his eyes had shifted swiftly to pitch-black darkness, one of the first signs of being in the state of unconsciousness.

When Adams came to, a short while later, he faintly opened and closed his eyes. His vision was a distorted mess that was all blurry and fuzzy, there was a severe, violent ringing in his ears, and he was all but in a state that had put him right between barely conscious and catatonic suspension. In the midst of his hearing, a voice warbled off in him with heavy amounts of distortion, like a demonic spirit that was floating around in his consciousness. As soon as his vision and hearing slowly returned, he could make out that voice as the head operator's.

"_Roman, come in!"_

Adams groaned in pain as he felt like his body was hanging onto something for quite some time. It was only until he noticed the current danger that he had found himself in.

He was literally hanging off of the side of the cliff where the drop was deep below.

The struggling team leader then heard an explosion that had sent an already scrapped-metal 4WD flying off the road near him, falling into a hugely steep drop that would certainly spell death for the soldier. Adams nearly fell off the cliff from the vehicle about to take him too, but managed to just hang on for dear life.

"_Roman, status?"_

With only his hands holding onto the gravelled edge of the cliff, Adams mustered enough strength to pull his own body up, but was unable to get his whole body off of the edge for the devastating sight that he had took in front of him.

There was fire everywhere. Flames had spread all over the road, blocking his line of sight from all the others involved in the blast. Thick, noxious smoke billowed around him in the air, another ominous sight that had taken place of his view. He coughed and choked up as the now-hazardous dust entered into his airway, affecting his lungs and every part of his body in ways possible. As he slowly turned his head to the left, his eyes widened open and pupils had shrank at Ando terrifyingly, as the other soldier caught in the explosion began to crawl towards the hanging Adams before he could move no more. His suddenly-lifeless body had flopped down on the ground just inches away from one of Adams' arms.

"_Roman! Damn it, Carmine, ANSWER ME!"_

The only last sights that remained in Adams were the unholy sight of the ominous toxic clouds of dust and fiery ambers that continued to rain down like Hell. Some of the flaming ambers had touched the ground and bounced off before they began to fell on the forearms of Adams, which were not protected by the sleeves of his uniform. They had burnt patches into his bare flesh and the pain was too intense for the veteran soldier, who screamed at the contact the ambers had on his skin. He tried to frantically brush the flames off with each gloved hand, but only this had contributed to his increased loss of grip on the edge of the cliff. Before he knew it, he began to slip right off the cliff, his legs giving out first. Then the rest of his body. And then, finally, he fell right off.

It was a long, deep, fall that took him to his demise.

"_Scramble the recovery team! I've got men DOWN in the field! MY WHOLE TEAM'S DOWN!"_

* * *

_**One month later…**_

**February 7, C.E. 93  
****Armory One, Lagrange 4  
****1400 Hours**

"_It is exactly a week before a Universal Day of Remembrance is held to commemorate those who have lost their lives in the three Bloody Valentine Wars." A female newscaster reported. "Twenty-two years ago on February the 14__th__, the first war was sparked by the titular event known as the Bloody Valentine Incident, when the former Earth Alliance had launched a nuclear attack and destroyed PLANT's Junius 7 colony, killing an estimated 244,000 people."_

A transport shuttle had touched down onto one of the landing strips where the airfield was full of military aircraft. It had taxied a long distance away from the runway, where it slowed to a stop and parked at an open area.

_The female newscaster continued. "Millions of lives were lost as the battles between the Earth Alliance and the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty—known as ZAFT—had continued on persistently, culminating in the final battle that saw both sides at a stalemate. This was followed by the Treaty of Junius that was signed on March 10, C.E. 72, slightly over a year after the start of the war."_

As the shuttle came to a stop, there stood a short distance away, a short-haired brunette man dressed in a white ZAFT uniform with gold markings on the black sections of his uniform. He had observed the shuttle stopping and then slowly backing up in front of him, the wearily saddened look that marked his facial expression complete with the forlorn stare in his purple eyes.

"_The treaty however, did not result in lasting peace, as the Second Bloody Valentine War broke out the year after the treaty was signed. Almost twenty years ago, an incident involving an attempted colony drop of the remnants of Junius 7 caused by coordinator terrorists resulted in the start of the aforementioned war. Civilian and military casualties were reportedly as high as the numbers were in the previous war…"_

The brunette man gave a quiet, heavy sigh to himself, one of dolefulness and one that had always escaped from his breath whenever an innocent person or a group of people, civilians or those from the military, had perished from the tragic circumstances that had always haunted him for years.

"…_in spite of the heavy amount of casualties across all sides involved, the war had reached its very conclusion with the signing of a new peace treaty negotiated by incumbent PLANT Supreme Council chairwoman Lacus Clyne, exactly three years dating back to the start of the first war. Again, peace was threatened when the Third Bloody Valentine War began a year later, when an unknown faction launched a surprise assault on all three known sides. However, unlike the previous two wars, the third war had ended with the defeat of this faction."_

A mile away from where the ZAFT commander was standing, four men in special combat uniforms marched their way towards the transport aircraft whilst lugging an assortment of baggage in their hands and carried on their backs. They had finally reached all the way to where the commander was waiting behind the stopped shuttle, with one black-haired man approaching the commander from behind.

The black-haired man with eyeglasses cleared his throat to get the brunette man's attention. "Commander Yamato."

"Gentlemen." The brunette commander's thoughts were pushed back, as he regained his composure to address his new team, his hands folded behind his back.

The black-haired male spoke up after a brief pause, during in which the cargo doors of the shuttle had hissed open as a group of ZAFT personnel arrived to retrieve the contents from the aircraft.

"Are we loading up?"

The white-suited commander let out another deep sigh. "When we're done here." He then turned his head to the right enough so that his purple orbs gazed upon the man behind him, before speaking out grimly. "Our unit has never been hit this hard before."

Both men then diverted their attention from each other to focus their sights on the military personnel lifting the caskets of the recently-fallen men up from the concrete, that were unloaded onto the ground first. The ZAFT soldiers then hoisted the caskets up after lifting, with each group of four soldiers carrying away the four caskets, all of them draped with the ZAFT military flag.

"I want you to just take a minute, share a word, and hope for the best if that's your way." Commander Yamato looked on, the voice of his words now stern.

The black-haired man behind him continued to stand tall; his facial expression was now a determined, but youthful one. The other three men had decided to board another shuttle nearby, and so had passed by the soldier and the commander without any of them letting off a word. The dark-haired man set aside a glance at his three squad-mates as they passed him by, before turning back to the brunette male.

"We're good to go, sir."

The white-suited ZAFT commander then finally turned around to face the Special Forces soldier with a renewed confident look in his eyes.

"Alright, sergeant. Let's go ahead and find out who did this to one of ours." He smiled thinly. "All of the details will be on your PTDs."

The dark-haired soldier's lips creased to a smile. "Yes, sir."

He then began to walk off to join his team-mates already aboard the military shuttle. The brunette commander watched on as the soldier boarded the aircraft via a ramp-like entrance into the seating areas. The black-haired man with glasses lowered his head and shifted his facial expression to a more serious, mature one as he stepped past the ramp and found a seat in between two of his team-mates, as the ramp-like door was hydraulically lifted up to close. The engines of the military shuttle then spun to life as it began to make its way by taxiing towards the runway departing off from Armory One.

Commander Yamato continued to look on as the shuttle parted away and slowly made a few turns before making the approach at the beginning of the runway strip. As the shuttle gained enough speed and lifted off from the strip, he then also turned and walked away the way he came from. Meanwhile, the black-haired man with rimless glasses pulled out a rectangular slate that was a ruggedized touchscreen tablet device. He powered it on, before pressing a few buttons to view his current objectives.

* * *

"_The bomb that killed our men apparently was headed for the Atlantic Federation from the southern border. They paid a steep, personal price to stop it." Commander Kira Yamato paused, before he continued. "Unfortunately, that is the cost we chose to bear for our nation. It is the cost that Major Carmine Adams, Staff Sergeant Rafael Dion, Master Sergeant Takeshi Ando, and Sergeant First Class James Snowden chose to pay, on our behalf."_

_Another tense pause before the commander continued on._

"_Their sacrifices were not in vain. Let's just ensure that this will not be a repeat in history again." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, the bomb had to pass through various hands to end up where it did. However we believe that a belligerent involved in the chain, a gun-runner by the name of Herminio De Soto, wants to come in. De Soto was a mid-level drug trafficker before he became involved in weapons smuggling, and the long track record does not lie. However, word has it that he had bit off more than he could chew, and now he wants out. He claims he did not know anything about the bomb's target, and so on. I'm not the man who could judge no more than you do, but De Soto's a loose thread."_

_Kira continued onward. "You'll be stationed at the Eternal-class ship, Polemos, where all four of you will be dropped off in the heart of Bolivia. Time will be scarce, so make your way and rescue De Soto for extraction. Good luck."_

_**To be continued in PHASE-02: "Armed Escapades".**_

* * *

**Alright, and that's the end of that! This chapter, I mean.**

**Honestly, I felt that this was a short chapter soon after writing this, as it only consisted of about 5700 words—give or take. Originally, I wanted to write an amount of about 10000 words for this chapter, but given that this chapter somewhat serves as a prologue to the events of the story, I'm actually satisfied. Anyway, for those of you who have read from start to finish, you've already taken into account of the events that happened in this chapter, and are probably wondering about the certain things that needed to be explained.**

**Firstly, I will admit that parts of the chapter are based off of the very first mission in **_**Ghost Recon: Future Soldier**_**, where the squad of four soldiers perish in a trap involving a remote detonation of a dirty bomb. However, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is indeed one of the direct influences towards the creation of this story. In fact, I can at least say that most of the missions that ZAFT Specter Team "Spartan" will partake, will be based on that of the game's single-player campaign. It may seem a bit unoriginal, but I find that it helps the storyline a little bit by having a focus on the characters that are central, but are not as important as the mobile suit pilots later on.**

**Secondly, for those who aren't in too deep with the Cosmic Era-verse, you've probably heard the mentioning of a Third Bloody Valentine War, in both the timeline above and the newscaster excerpts. Before you even doubt about the existence of this event in particular, look up "Gundam SEED VS Astray". It is a graphic novel that has the events take place in Cosmic Era 75, about a year after the events of Gundam SEED Destiny, and it involves the mysterious organization under the name of Librarian Works. Considering the events of the graphic novel to be canon in-universe, I decided to include the events as part of the timeline.**

**Lastly, I know some of you guys are probably wondering about the other characters that haven't been mentioned yet, including those who have originally appeared in SEED Destiny and lived (in-universe). Given that Kira has already made his very first appearance in this chapter, it is just more than likely that more and more of the cast of characters will appear in the next chapter and onward. Which leads me to say that you'll be in for a few surprises when the next chapter hits! Until then, stay tuned for more. **


	6. PHASE-02: Armed Escapades

**Author's Note: **Hello guys, and sorry for the delay in getting the second chapter through! I was busy with a lot of things over the past few weeks or so, including studying for the finals at university and whatnot. However, chapter two of Gundam SEED Reflex is now finally here for all to read, and there will be a whole lot more action in this chapter. Also, as promised, there will be more characters (old and new) appearing in this second chapter of the story. I think you'll be surprised to see who appears in this chapter right away. So without further introduction, enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**Voltage Axe Presents**

_**Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Reflex**_

**PHASE-02: Armed Escapades**

* * *

**February 8, C.E. 93  
****Orb Civilian War Memorial, Onogoro Island, Union of Orb  
****0700 Hours**

The casting rays of light began to brighten up the alluring, morning skies of hazy purple and blue as the sun began to rise above the horizon of the gleaming ocean, right before a land that was marked of cenotaphs, and other memorial markers of those whose memories now lie on those ceramic stones. The rays of light from the sun were slowly unravelling the shadows that covered a large, geometrically rectangular stone sitting a few feet away from the edge of the cliff. The front side of the stone was inscribed with three names, three innocent people who had tragically perished in the Battle of Orb, on the fifteenth of June, 22 years previously. A hand was laid on the smooth surface of the stone, fingers feeling the letters that were inscribed into the stone so delicately. The inscription of those letters had read out _Mayu Asuka's_ name, engraved on that very part of stone.

A male figure in his mid-30s had kneeled down before the stone, his fingers running along the inscribed letters of the ceramic stone, the light being reflected from parts of his shortened black hair. His weary crimson eyes became glassy with every touch he felt against the letters carved-in with his fingertips, his eyes had urged a sense to leak tears of sadness once more. The man had held it in, however, as he regained most of his composure and fought the urge to cry. Dressed in his white ZAFT uniform with the gold markings in the dark areas of the clothing, the man began to rise up in the crouching position, the palm of his hand had now rested on the top of the stone.

"Mayu…I'll always never forget you." Shinn continued to focus on the inscribed name of his late sister. "I've...I've always told myself this lots of times, but you've remained on my mind the whole time. I've finally forgiven myself for what I had to go through after you were gone, and…it doesn't seem to affect me too much; and yet, you still remain as a part of my journey. A part of my life."

His body trembled slightly from the amount of pain and sorrow contained deep inside, aided by the fact that he was mourning the loss of a loved one.

"Even if you aren't with me, I hope you can forgive me for all of what I did all these years along. It seems that there isn't anything in the world here left for me to blame." His face scrunched up slightly in bitter disgust and anger. "All except for those who wanted war to happen."

The 35-year-old Asuka then laid a bouquet of flowers that were near him, under Mayu's name on the cenotaph. He then proceeded to stand up straight before taking a few steps back to face the ceramic stone again in full view, arms behind his back.

"It's kind of funny." He let out a bitter laugh, and then sniffed. "I was thinking about that day when I met the person whom I actually thought was responsible for what happened here on this country a long time ago. He once said that 'no matter how many times the flowers are blown away, we continue to grow them'. Right now, the flowers have grown and blossomed to their fullest…the ones that I left for you."

Shinn continued to stare at the ceramic memorial stone that was situated amid the beautiful ocean behind it, complete with the brightening morning skies. He stared at it for quite some time, before a quiet voice came from behind his back.

"Otou-san."

The adult Shinn slowly turned around to face a teenaged male figure standing just several yards away from him. This male figure was dressed in the red ZAFT uniform, his stature about more or less the height that Shinn was, in his adolescent years. In fact, the male's facial features were remarkably similar to his, when he was a teenager. Shinn could make out the young man's crimson eyes, brightened up by the rising sun in the sky.

"Kazu." He addressed his son's name in the same quiet tone that his son had.

Kazunori Asuka, 15 years of age, made his way to where his father is before he stopped to be beside him with his hands together behind his back. Light shone off the reflective parts of his long locks of dark hair at the back, all the way to his shortened locks at the front and sides. He stared at the memorial with empathy towards his father and what he had suffered through the second war.

"I miss them too, father." The teenaged male frowned as he faced him. "Every time I also visit this place."

"I'm sure we both do, Kazu." Shinn extended an arm to lay a hand on his son's shoulder.

"So, how should we do this?" Kazunori suddenly asked.

His father raised an eyebrow slightly. "Hmm?"

"How should we keep the peace from those who want to destroy it?" His son earnestly explained. "I know we have the power to protect it, but it's a matter of _how_ we should do this, in order to protect it?"

Shinn turned his head and faced the memorial again, his hand now away from his son's shoulder. "When the time comes, you will know the answer, my son." He sighed, before he made a quick look at his wristwatch, then turning to him. "I think it's time to return back. Your mother is waiting for us in the car." He smiled.

Kazunori nodded. Before they returned back, they paid the last of their respects to Shinn's fallen family by clasping their hands in a prayer before they bowed a few times in front of the memorial.

* * *

**February 8, C.E. 93  
****Sucre, Bolivia, United States of South America  
****0800 Hours**

"_Yes, everything is going according to the schedule." _A freshly-shaved man in a combat uniform adorned with desert-style camouflage and a belt of bullets communicated in Spanish, holding a smartphone close to his ear.

He slowly paced his way towards the wooden doors of a building as he continued to talk to his superiors over the phone. As he neared the doors, he turned around with his back facing the entrance, his one hand still holding the smartphone to his ear.

"_Yes, yes, I do understand that, sir." _He continued on in Spanish, animate in his body language. _"We will not delay any further; we will carry out the operation at this instance. Yes, very well. Goodbye."_

The right door of the building's front entrance slowly shifted open behind him, to reveal a menacing figure in the shadows away from the revealing light, raising its handgun swiftly with the suppressor barrel pointed at the back of the man's head. As soon as the man had hung up the call, the shadowing figure made its move. The trigger was pulled, followed by streams of blood and bits of flesh splattering off of the exit wound through the man's head, and a spent shell casing falling to the ground with the sound of a pin that had dropped. At the same time, two hands from the shadowy figure reached quickly to hold onto the fallen man's body from behind. The shaded figure then dragged the lifeless body indoors, swiftly closing the door shut in the process.

"Clear." The male figure spoke over the communications, revealed in his stone-gray field cap and a tinted-blue polygonal light shining off of the right side of his visor.

He proceeded to drag the body off to a corner and positioned the soulless body away from plain sight. A couple of feet away, another male figure in the same combat suit as the man with the field cap—but with a helmet on instead—had emerged from a corner of a doorway, readying his assault rifle firmly gripped in his hands. He stepped out only to lower his rifle as he began radio communications over his headset.

"Command, this is Spartan. We're at the rendezvous, but no sign of the package." He began to pace towards the sunlight.

"_Copy that."_ The head operator responded. _"What's the situation?"_

"Messy." The man in the combat suit had carefully stepped over a body of a Bolivian male lying on his side, already deceased before Spartan could ever arrive. "The house was ransacked. De Soto must have bugged out."

"_That's understood. We'll track his cell and try to get a fix on him."_

A voice broke out from another corner. "What do we do in the meantime?"

The male figure had stopped shortly nearby a third male figure in the same combat uniform, leaning against the wall with a .50 caliber sniper rifle in tow. He then paced slowly past him.

"Keep our eyes open, and get ready to do some hunting," he replied, tossing an unarmed, metallic motion-sensing device at a fourth male figure that leaned against the corner opposite of the man with the field cap, who was near the dead man lying against the wall.

The man in the helmet then received an incoming transmission from the head operator. He pressed his fingers against the smooth surface of his headset covering over his right temple to answer.

"_Spartan, this is Command. We've got De Soto on comms. Patching him through right now!"_

Crackles of static filled their headsets, before a voice belonging to the man believed to be the one to rescue had entered the airwaves.

"_Hello! Are you there?"_

The helmeted man answered his call. "Mr. De Soto, my team's at the rendezvous ready to get you out."

The fourth male figure quickly got up, as did the others lying in wait, with the fourth figure shifting open the right door at the same time as the second figure did with the left. They got into formation, rifles pointed straight in their hands as they made their exit out into the town, in the broad daylight. Innocent civilians strolling around on the rough and dry pavement of the street immediately began to take notice of their weaponry, their first reactions were to panic and flee away from the direction that the armed men were heading off to.

"_Someone had tipped them off!" _The man's voice, coupled with harsh and feared panting, had signalled severe distress. _"They're after me. I'm on the move; you'll have to come to me! The market, hurry!"_

Crackles of static followed to end the transmission over their headsets.

The team leader then made it clear about what to do now. "Go! Get moving!"

The squad of four Specters began to rush down the route swiftly, that was filled with debris and all sorts of garbage at the sides of the road and in front of them a short distance away. More and smaller groups of innocent civilians began to notice them rushing their way, with shouts and yells of panic coming out from them as they scrambled past and around the group of four without any confrontation.

"Shit, I never encountered anything like this in quite a while." A Spartan noted over the communications.

"You're telling me." Another Spartan responded, as he ran beside him. "This is something that I normally would get used to all the time at practice."

"Hey, wasn't Captain Elsman actually quite fond of you when we all first met him at the ship earlier?" The same Spartan had now asked him in a light, teasing tone.

The Spartan running beside him with a light-machine gun in hand then slowed down a bit, as he began to reflect back to the time that they had boarded the Polemos before arriving at the South American country.

* * *

_A blond man dressed in a white and black commander's suit and a military cap strolled down the corridor of rooms reserved for the crew members of the ship, followed by the four men who were partly dressed in the special infantry combat gear. _

"_It's a delight to have all four of you guys here on the ship." Dearka smiled. "I acknowledge your long history of getting things done to keep the peace between the Coordinators and the Naturals; it was definitely a wise decision made by those at the top."_

"_You don't have to give us a lot of credit, Captain." The team leader, identified as 'Brooks' on his nametape, replied. "We also value those in the other units dedicated to giving out the same valiant efforts for the sake of peace at hand."_

_The captain of the Polemos agreed. "That's quite true. I was once a mobile suit pilot during the first and second wars, and from my previous experiences, it is tough having to fight for what you really believe in." _

"_So, how long have you've been in ZAFT for?" The black-haired male walking behind him on his right, whose last name on the nametape had read out 'Leung', had asked._

"_Oh, I've been here for about 22 years or so." Dearka then turned to face him. "And how long have you've been here for?"_

_Leung grinned slightly with confidence. "Two years to be exact."_

_Dearka was surprised at his response. "Two years, huh? I hope you were kidding!"_

"_He isn't." Brooks insisted. "He actually passed through all that training at the academy a few years back, good enough to be on our team for deployment." _

"_The Chief's right," a man in his early-20s by the last name of 'Castle' on his nametape had grinned, "the 'Argonaut' here certainly knows his shit when it comes to the nature of the Specters' duties!"_

_It was then that the captain was impressed with this young man's performance in the ranks. _

"_You know," the blond man chuckled, "If you were able to pilot such complex machinery with those skills, you'd be an ace at it!"_

_The black-haired male smirked, flatteringly. "Really?"_

"_Yeah, just like Yzak, my friend out there." He let out a laugh. "He's really quite the commander who knows how to blow a head gasket when it's needed these days."_

_All the four Specters shared this humor with him lightly, as they made their way past an intersecting hallway. However, as they did, the black-haired male quickly turned his head to the left to make out a few figures standing over at the end of the hallway opposite to them, seemingly having a conversation of their own. _

"_So, let's talk about family, Captain. You did say you were married right?"_

_A hearty chuckle. "Yeah, I tied the knot with a woman I know for a long time, a while ago. I have a son who's currently studying at the academy…"_

_The voices trailed off, as Leung paused for a moment as he let the rest of the group go ahead of him. He could make out a female facing at a brunette male leaning against a wall and another male facing the female. The female then turned to briefly gaze at the black-haired male with her blue eyes amid dark brunette locks of hair. The black-haired male then returned his focus back to the captain and the rest of his group as they continued on walking down._

* * *

As he finished reflecting back, he could hear a faint voice that hovered around his consciousness. It had slowly gotten clearer and louder to him. It asked him, "Davis? Hey, Davis?"

The young, black-haired Spartan then shook his head to snap out of it, as he noticed that he was now far behind the pack, and that the Spartan in front of him—identified as Castle—had only stopped to ensure that he hadn't lost him yet.

"Davis, come on!" Castle hollered at him. "Catch up, will ya?!"

Davis could only mutter "sorry" at him, before he began to start rushing again to catch up to the rest of the team without compromise. The group of four ZAFT soldiers then took notice of an improvised blockade ahead of them, consisting of a few large metal crates, a vendor's cart that was on its side, and some wooden boxes to their far left.

"Move to cover, stay out of sight." The team leader directed them behind the blockade.

In front of their view and ahead of the blockade, were a few group of people standing and policing the area around. They were all dressed in the same combat uniform with desert-style camouflage all around. One man could be seen with his back toward them, leaning on a stone barrier a short distance from the blockade ahead, while another three people were seen further in the distance to their right. An additional man could be seen to their far-left, walking by the man relaxing on the barrier.

The team leader wasn't entirely convinced of what they were dealing yet. "Hold your fire. There might be more of them around."

One of the soldiers in the group taking cover had caught a solution. "Deploying a sensor would be a better idea."

The Specter taking cover next to the overturned cart—Davis—then reached for a round, metallic motion-sensing device from his belt, before he armed it and lobbed it from the blockade all the way to a distance approximate to their location and out of sight. The armed device then emitted an invisible electric wave that revealed where the militants were, through their visors. From their visors, they noted the small cluster of Bolivian militants marked with a yellow triangle pointing down above their heads, certain foot soldiers were marked with a bright yellow outline around them.

Brooks, now behind the red metal crates to the right of the blockade, gave the signal to fire.

"Weapons free, take the shot when you're ready."

The ZAFT Specter crouched behind near the flipped cart began to raise his rifle and took aim at a militant with a beige hat leaning on a side of the building, before he then moved the sights of his light-machine gun quickly to the right, directed at the head of another militant slowly moving by the leaning man. With a deep breath, he pulled the trigger.

A shot rang out loudly, followed by a spray of blood coming out from the man's head as he fell down to the ground in front of the other militants. Before every one of them reacted, more shots rang out from the blockade as the Specters began to open fire at the opposing forces. Screams can be heard from civilians in the distance, as the Bolivian militants scrambled to return fire at the perpetrators behind the blockade. A fierce exchange of bullets were then followed by the sound of another militant dying from a few shells piercing through his body, falling to the ground quick. Through their visors, the Spartan team could see the outlines of the moving targets' bodies changing from yellow to hostile red.

Davis, who previously took cover beside the flipped cart focused on another enemy who was beside a blue hut-like structure, and began firing beside another Spartan—Castle—focused on the enemies to the further right. An oppressive burst of bullets from the light-machine gun shredded through the Bolivian male's body like Swiss cheese as he went down on his back. One by one, the Bolivian militiamen fell to the ground hard; semi-automatic rifles were dropping like flies, bullets going past their vital organs, and blood everywhere on the ground. Only one militant remained, as he scrambled behind a fish stall and away from the spray of bullets coming from a sub-machine gun.

"I'VE GOT HIM PINNED!" One of the Spartans bellowed out, as he trained the sights of his rifle at the last remaining militant taking cover behind a blue fish stall.

The Bolivian militant angrily shouted a string of curses in Spanish, before he got out of cover and took aim at the Spartan with his semi-automatic rifle. However, the whole team had fired at once quickly before he could even pull the trigger. It had all resulted in streaks of red blood splattered around the walls and the ground, and even leaking from the mouth of the militant whose body was now ridden of bullet holes, lying against the wall of a building lifelessly.

"We're clear." The team leader spoke out. "Move forward!"

All four ZAFT soldiers then vaulted over the obstacles in the blockade, as they rushed to find the path diverting away to another main road, where they crossed it to continue down the alleyway further before they got to a platform that was situated a few metres above an open area full of civilians and armed militants. They took cover behind the wall in front of them.

As Davis peeked out from the wall, he could make out several people strolling around and crowding around in small groups in the open space below them. Continuing to scan the area with his eyes, the young Spartan could make out a person who stood out from the rest of the crowd.

"There he is. Visual on De Soto." Leung confirmed.

"Get a sensor online." Brooks commanded.

Davis then reached out another metallic motion-sensing device from his belt, before he armed it. He proceeded to lob it at a shady area that was out of sight from suspecting eyes. The armed sensor emitted the same invisible electric wave, and revealing through their visors, a faint blue diamond shape around the top-half of an overweight man dressed in a blue track suit with matching pants. He was slowly strolling through a small crowd of people watching a match of football on a flat-panel display.

Suddenly, the group of four spotted more imminent danger that approached the man in the crowd. There were two foot soldiers coming from an alleyway near the building that housed the flat-screen panel. They were armed with semi-automatic rifles, and judging by their gestures, they were out looking for his blood.

"Hostile contact, dead ahead." Brooks noted to the rest.

As the Spartan team continued to watch over the two armed men closely, Davis could see a small box hovering next to the man in the blue track suit on the heads-up display, through his visor. It contained his status of his condition, as well as biometric information. De Soto remained amongst the crowd blending in, as he glanced at the television set and then he turned around quite anxiously for a brief moment, before turning back to the screen in front. Suddenly, Brooks began to spot a third armed man joining the two armed men from a corner of a building just several yards away from the crowd and De Soto.

It was then that he gave the command to open fire. "Protect the V.I.P.! Engage all hostiles!"

Davis now had his sights on the third man with his light-machine gun, ready to pull the trigger. As soon as he steadied and lined up his shot, he pulled onto the trigger, hard. The third man fell to the ground as bullets pierced through his head, the shots already ringing out. Immediately, screams and yells of panic tore through the air as unsuspected civilians began to scramble and rush away from the scene. Quickly, Davis trained his sights on the other two men, firing in short bursts. The sharp, metallic projectiles made their way to their targets, and the two men collapsed with their rifles thrown off from their hands. Amidst the chaos and panic already arising, the weapons smuggler scrambled onto his feet after stumbling, before he rushed off to take cover behind the side of a concrete vessel confining a shrub.

"Enemies spotted, 12 'o clock!" Castle roared out, as he could see three armed men emerging from the shadows of the three-storey building at the ground level, facing in the general direction where De Soto hid.

The three armed men shouted in Spanish as they took aim at where the shots originated from, and fired their semi-automatic rifles. Bullets flew and missed the Specters that were taking cover from behind the wall. Some had chipped off the thick, concrete barrier that they took cover from.

"_You damn gringos are going to get me killed," _De Soto hissed out over the communications.

"Moving to cover!" Castle bellowed, as he rushed past the team leader and took cover behind the wall further down the way.

Likewise, the other Spartan began to move away from the team leader and had spread out the group, as he began to focus on the enemies at the ground. Brooks began to spot one of the enemy soldiers firing his weapon near a vacant motor vehicle in front of the building.

"He's near the car! Assault rifle!" He shouted out as he took cover quickly before returning fire on the targets.

Davis, who now had the three foot soldiers highlighted in red through his visor, had fired his light-machine gun continuously at the militant near the car. A spray of his bullets had struck the engine block of the vehicle, causing it to explode in a massive fireball and a huge burst of smoke, tossing the nearby militant in the air and to his instant demise. The Spartan continued to fire his rifle in massive bursts, clipping down another militant who was near the other armed man who had just been taken out by the exploding vehicle. Castle trained his sights on the last man who was at the left side of the building, firing his semi-automatic rifle. Bullets pierced through the armed man's torso and abdomen, as the militant fell with a heavy thud.

"Got one!" He blared off.

Suddenly, more militiamen arrived as De Soto can make out one of them rushing out from a door at the second storey and out in the open from the balcony above. Another armed militant made his way to the rooftop, and two more were coming from the third and second storeys of the building. The former drug-runner began to dart off from his previous cover, where he then took cover behind the same side of another vessel surrounding a different shrub. Davis took aim at the man in the rooftop, and fired, his bullets connected with the man's head that peeked out just inches above the wall. He then took aim at a militant firing from the second-storey balcony to the right, and fired in short bursts to subdue the enemy.

"Target down!" The young Spartan yelled, as he emerged from his cover and began to rush over, across the plank of wooden boards that connected the building with a structure next to it, and took cover from behind near a corner of the wall.

"Supressing fire!" One of the Spartans shouted, as he fired his rifle continuously at the militant on the third-storey balcony to the left.

Bullets were exchanged in the crossfire as the team leader began firing at the man that the other Spartan was suppressing, taking him down in sprays of blood. Shots still rang out, as Davis peeked his head out and could spot an enemy soldier at the rooftop to the right of the building.

"I see him! Rooftop!" He got out of cover and fired his weapon, aiming down the sights.

Bullets ripped past the man's body as the Bolivian militant fell on his back, instantly lifeless. The area was finally cleared of the armed militants. At the ground level, De Soto looked to his left and right before peeking out and looking around for any imminent threats around him, trembling with sweat running down his face and body. Davis began replacing the clip of his light-machine gun with a new one, in the midst of the silence that followed the action. The radio communications then opened up with a few crackles of static.

"_Spartan, this is Snowbird. We're gonna make an attempt at the L.Z., see if we can pull the V.I.P. out."_

"Snowbird, please be advised!" The team leader communicated. "The L.Z. is hot."

The heavy whirring sounds of an incoming helicopter whipped up in the air, as it neared its final approach. _"Understood, Spartan. We'll do our best."_

De Soto clambered off from his feet, as he could make out the olive-green air vehicle making its final approach, hovering closely towards him several metres above. The clouds of yellowish dust kicked up in the air from the helicopter, as the weapons smuggler signalled to the pilot by waving his arms at the chopper.

"_Hurry up!" _He frantically spoke out.

Without any warning, a metallic projectile in the form of a small warhead zoomed straight at the helicopter.

"_R.P.G.!" _Brooks hollered at the pilots.

"_Watch it, incoming!" _The helicopter swerved off to its left to avoid the rocket round from coming into contact, just as it slammed into the side of a building and creating a large fireball that threw debris everywhere.

The helicopter then steered away from the area, leaving behind the former drug-runner that continued to run and the Spartan team above. _"Sorry for that, Spartan, but it's too tight down there. We're gonna have to bail."_

"Snowbird, get clear." The team leader replied back. "We'll rally at secondary."

"_Roger that, good luck." _

The transport chopper disappeared from the Spartans' sights as it flew away in the distance, behind all the buildings and structures in their line of sight. Shouts in Spanish came from afar, as the Spartans traversed down the path and took cover from behind the wall. Shots continued to ring out from everywhere as they made their way towards another open area, devoid of civilians. As Davis emerged from his cover at the slightest, he could make out De Soto crouched behind an abandoned market stall, a handgun drawn out with one hand.

"Enemy, 12 o'clock!" Castle shouted, as he saw a Bolivian militant rush to the edge of the rooftop of a building to the left of the stall, across the street.

Davis quickly spotted him, and emerged out of cover to pick the militant off with his light-machine gun, before the enemy target could get his assault rifle ready.

"GOT ONE!" He confirmed the kill loudly.

Several more bursts of gunfire rang out from afar, and most of the bullets were aimed at the Specters that were behind cover.

The team leader of the Spartans flinched a bit, as he made his best to cover himself from the incoming fire that came from somewhere. "More enemies coming through! They've got us pinned!"

With the enemies training their fire at the other three men beside him, Davis quickly peeked his head out and saw three armed men located at the same building that was left of the market stall. Two men were on the ground, taking cover behind a stationary panel of rusted metal, and one having reached the rooftop as the other. He quickly drew out his light-machine gun and aimed down his sights on the two men at ground level first, picking them off in short bursts, before directing his sights towards the man on the rooftop. The militant assuming the position on the rooftop collapsed with a thud under the barrage of Davis' bullets that pierced through his upper torso and abdomen.

"Got them!" Davis shouted, before a burst of bullets came from his right.

Some of the bullets had struck the upper portion of his combat uniform, bouncing off of the shoulder and chest areas of the hardened metallic portion of his suit. Davis gave a series of loud grunts as he was struck by the sharp ammunition heading his way, before going back to take cover in a flash.

"He's hit!" One of the Spartans roared out.

"You okay?!" Brooks shouted over to Davis.

Davis briefly glanced at the dents made to his armour before turning to his team leader. "Yeah, I'm alright! Just a scratch!"

Castle, with his semi-automatic rifle held tightly in his hands, peeked his head away from cover to find where the gunfire was originating from. It was difficult to make out where the enemy fire was coming from, due to his vision being suppressed by the rounds of bullets that were fired at him. He scrambled away from his last known position and took cover right beside Davis who was now to his right. Davis then got out another electronic sensor and chucked it out, with the armed motion sensor landing some yards ahead of the market stall. An invisible wave of electricity emerged off of the metallic object, revealing two human figures highlighted in red hiding behind a pile of boxes that were next to a stairway.

Both Castle and Davis emerged out of cover at the same time, firing their rifles right at the two Bolivian militants taking cover behind the boxes of wood and corrugated paperboard. Bullets pierced through the flimsy, light material of the boxes and right through the bodies of the two armed men, who collapsed to the ground with their rifles off from their hands.

"Got one!" Davis confirmed the kill.

"Got the other!" Castle did likewise.

A loud shot rang out in an instant, catching Castle and Davis, as well as the Specters off-guard. Before they knew it, the man in the blue track clothes who took cover behind the stall had begun to emerge away. As he did, an enemy militant from somewhere had took aim and fired, the bullet travelling far only to strike the overweight weapons smuggler in the left ankle. The man let out a loud yell, as he continued to rush away from his previously known position.

"_I've been shot! Where the hell are you?!" _

Escaping the enemy bullets that narrowly landed behind his feet, Herminio De Soto scrambled off and away up the staircase, ignoring the buckshot wounds fresh on his left ankle.

"_Hold it! STOP!"_ Brooks yelled out over the communications, but it was no use.

The overweight man in the track suit continued to dodge the bullets that were directed at him, as he dashed his way towards the platform where an aerial tram was stationed at. There, a few civilians were already disembarking the cable car. The weapons smuggler brought out his handgun and waved it around, pointing the barrel end at the civilians getting off the tram.

"_Out! Everybody out now, or you all die!"_ He bellowed out in frantic Spanish. _"Come on, move! Come on!"_

The three Bolivian citizens panicked as they got around him, indirectly helping Herminio to get himself inside the yellow cable car in the process. As all of the Specters got out of cover, they could make out the cable car beginning to lift itself off and ascend upwards along the hill. However, at the same time, they heard a four-wheeled vehicle barrelling down from around the corner of the road perpendicular to the road parallel to the structure they were on. It sped around the corner from their right, revealing itself to be a technical, a pickup truck with a front-armoured light-machine rifle mounted onto the cargo bed at the back. The Bolivian militant behind the mounted rifle began firing at the squad of four Specters, suppressing them.

"Heads up! Light armour, technical!" Brooks shouted as all four took cover immediately.

Davis emerged from cover in an instant, firing down at the technical with his light-machine gun. The three other Spartans fired at the truck as well. Some of the bullets had only struck the armoured plating that covered the mounted gun of the technical. The militarized truck then spun to its left as it skidded to a stop just ahead of the market stall, the man on the mounted gun continuously firing at the Spartans. Davis however, was able to take advantage by quickly firing down his LMG at the militant behind the mounted weapon, who was now exposed to the Spartans. In an instant, the enemy soldier was launched off the bed of the truck with a line of bullets pierced through his torso, spatters of blood flying out in the air. Davis then fired several more rounds at the truck, a few bullets piercing through the gas tank. The truck exploded in a heavy fireball, thick black smoke and dust kicked up in the air, killing both militants inside the vehicle.

"Got 'em all!" Davis shouted in the midst of the charred truck landing onto the ground hard.

"We're clear." The team leader finally said after a moment of silence. "Form up on me. We've got some climbing to do."

With the situation now deteriorating at each and every moment, the Spartans were now faced with the challenge of locating De Soto again, after severe compromises had happened. The squad of four regrouped, as they reached the end of the path of where they were, heading inside an enclosed space with a metal door in front of them. However, crackles of static were emitted over their headsets before they could progress any further.

"_Spartan, Command. We've got a fix on the V.I.P.'s cell signal. We'll keep track of him for you."_

All four Spartans got into position, as Castle and the other Spartan lifted up the corrugated metal door slowly, while Davis was down on his knees and leaning tilted to the right as he trained the sights of his rifle towards the open area. Brooks was simply crouched, as he trained the barrel end of his semi-automatic rifle towards the same open area.

"Copy that. You sure he's worth the trouble?" Brooks asked, before moving out the door first.

"_That's a negative. But ZAFT wants him, so we deliver."_

"He knows we're the good guys, right?" Castle asked, as he left out the door last, with Davis helping him by holding the door up.

"_He knows we're his only way out," _the head operator answered sternly_, "that's gonna have to be good enough."_

"He doesn't seem to be too happy about it." The Spartan, known on his name tape as Franco, remarked.

The Spartans then found two ladders fixed to the wall that led the way up to continue the path.

"If he survives, I'll be sure to remind him of his good fortune." Davis quipped, as he climbed his way up the ladder on the right, along with Castle.

All four members of the Spartan team made their way up the ladders, and climbed out. They proceeded through an open gateway under the blue tarp that covered the whole entire structure they were in, with all Spartans replacing the used-up magazines on their rifles with fresh, new ones. As they made their way through, they noticed a building yards away ahead of the exit towards the sunlit outside, to their left.

"Let's see what's inside. Get a sensor in there." Brooks told Davis, who was now behind him.

"Deploying sensor." Davis reached out for another motion-sensing device from his belt, and armed it before he lobbed the device right through the rectangular opening of the crudely-crafted building that was still under construction. The invisible wave that the sensor emitted afterwards, revealed four masculine figures highlighted in yellow inside the building.

"Hostiles." The team leader noted. "Set up to breach."

The Spartans located the two metal doors next to each other that led to the hostiles inside. They set themselves against the brick walls of the building, two Spartans setting themselves on opposite ends of a door, for each door.

"Four hostiles. Ready to breach on my count." Brooks begun. "Three…two…one."

"LET'S DO THIS!" Castle yelled, as they began to breach.

Franco, who was on the opposite side of Davis, began to charge the door open and breaking it through in the process. Castle kicked down the door open with the team leader by his side, as all four rushed in like haunting demons coming through. Time slowed before them, as Davis first spotted an enemy militant caught off guard in front, with another beside him turning around with his assault rifle and a third standing on top of a wooden platform above. With his finger already on the trigger, Davis fired his light-machine gun at the man in front of him, with bullets piercing through his upper body. As the man in front began to collapse, Davis trained the direction of his rifle towards the man standing on the platform and fired. The militant fell aback, struck by the burst of bullets that went right through him. Boxes and other construction materials flew in the air, as the Spartans outgunned the other two men that were in the building. As the area was cleared, time sped back up again to its normal pace.

"Hostiles cleared." The team leader confirmed, before communicating over the radio. "Command, Spartan. You got a status on the package?"

The Spartans rushed up a wooden ramp onto an upper platform and leading to another corrugated metal door, to their left.

"_Still on the move. Thermals are showing increasing activity. The whole area's stirred up."_

Brooks responded back, as all four had positioned themselves again behind the metal door. "Search parties?"

"_Mixed with civilians." _The head operator breathed out_. "Watch yourselves, watch your targets."_

"Roger that."

As with before, Castle and Franco lifted open the bay door slowly, with Davis and Brooks sneaking out with their rifles trained. All four of them managed to be out, as they headed further down a steep hill of a street with buildings lining beside the road ahead. A couple of civilians who saw the armed Spartans in front had begun panicking and fled the scene.

"Go! Get moving!" Brooks told the rest of the squad.

The four Spartans rushed forward towards the path of the road, but not before they spotted a few armed Bolivian militants, who were located on a raised platform in front of a residual structure that diverted the road to the left and straight ahead. Instantly, the militants took notice of the advancing Spartans several yards away, and shouted in their home language before scrambling to take cover behind the wooden fencing areas that covered the rails.

"That got their attention!" Castle spoke loudly with a hint of sarcasm.

Gunfire erupted in the whole area, as the Spartans scrambled off to different directions. Unarmed civilians remaining on the streets were in hysterics as they tried to cover themselves from the lines of fire coming from both sides.

"They're moving!" Franco shouted. "Take out that rifleman!"

Davis rushed to take cover behind the wall of the first, brown-bricked structure to his left, firing blindly with his personal defence rifle and suppressing the enemy combatants. Castle slid to take cover behind a concrete barrier that was in the middle of the street, facing the residual structure in front some yards away. The team leader and Franco took to the right of the street, climbing up a small flight of stairs to take cover behind a curved wall on the raised-up surface of the ground. After firing a few bursts of suppressive rounds, Davis proceeded to arm and throw a motion sensor device in the air, having it bounce off the pavement a few times before rolling to a stop near the bottom of the raised platform. An invisible wave emitted from the device, revealing the four hostiles in red, hiding behind the wooden fences.

This allowed Castle to take advantage, as he popped out from behind the barrier and fired his semi-automatic rifle at a hostile militant hiding behind the wooden barrier to his right. The man taking cover gave a dying groan as he stumbled and collapsed from the bullet rounds going through the wooden planks and straight through his body.

"Target down, moving to cover!" Castle shouted, as he rushed off from the concrete barrier to join the other two Spartans on his right.

Davis replaced an empty clip of his personal defence rifle with a loaded clip before moving himself off the wall of the brown-bricked structure. He positioned himself at the center of the road before the concrete barrier, before he aimed down his sights and fired at a militant to the left. The armed man who had peeked out from the wooden fence was instantly struck by the bursts of rounds coming from his rifle. The militant fell in a spectacular fashion, blood gushing out from the open wounds of his body.

"I got him!" Davis shouted, with the three other Spartans finishing off the rest of the militants in their way.

The remaining two men at the front returned fire in short bursts, whilst taking cover behind the wooden fencings. Franco and Brooks continued to suppress them, while Castle leapt over the rails on the top of the wall, before landing firmly on the ground and advanced to take cover behind a rusted cart to his right. Davis then manoeuvred around the concrete barrier and slid to take cover behind another rusted cart that was to the left of Castle. The sweat running down his covered face, Davis quickly got out of cover and fired in short bursts at the militant hiding behind the fencing to the left end of the platform, while Castle got out of his cover and shot at the man hiding behind the wooden fences to the right end of the same platform. Both militants went down without a fight within them.

"Both targets are down!" Franco confirmed loudly, as Brooks and he emerged from cover and joined Davis and Castle back again.

"Good, let's keep moving!" Brooks commanded, with the group now rushing up the road that now had a few structures lining the roads left and right.

However, the four Spartans could hear a vehicle rapidly approaching in the distance in front of them, and it was coming from the left.

"Moving to cover!" Franco shouted, as Davis immediately took cover behind the window of the first dilapidated building to his left.

Before they knew it, bursts of fire came from ahead, as another technical braked to a stop and its mounted gun directed at the oncoming Spartans down the hill. The man on the mounted gun focused his sights on each Spartan that quickly took cover behind the walls of the structures, before aiming down at the structure down the road to his right. Davis avoided the bursts of fire coming from the mounted gun, suppressing his vision the left and causing him to slightly lose his balance from the hard hits of the shells landing at the ground near him.

Brooks and Franco took cover behind the wall of a structure across the road from Davis, their rifles drawn.

"Be quick, stay out of the open!" Brooks advised to his squad-mates. "Move from cover to cover!"

"Got it!" Davis affirmed, while Castle replied with a grunt in the same tone.

As quick as he was before, Davis rushed off from the one side of the building to another across the road, and ahead of the team leader and Franco without being caught by the mounted gunner's line of fire. The mounted gunner focused his fire now at Castle, who was ahead of Davis across the road to the left.

"He's got me pinned!" Castle shouted, doing his best to avoid being hit.

Davis then reached for a frag grenade whilst peeking his head out to check the position of the enemy gunner on the truck. With the pin drawn out, he tossed the grenade with one hand in the air, directed at the technical.

"FRAG OUT!"

The grenade went over the wall and landed on the ground beside the technical, before it exploded, causing a chain reaction that resulted in the militarized truck exploding in a large ball of fire that sent smoke and debris everywhere, killing all occupants of the truck. Davis panted heavily as he emerged off from the wall before rejoining his group again, catching his breath.

"Targets have been neutralized, we're clear!" Brooks communicated over the radio.

As the team made their way up the path and up the stairs to their right, the weapons smuggler's voice broke in through the airwaves over their headsets, still frantic and filled with heavy anxiousness.

"_How much longer?!"_

"We're working our way to you sir." Brooks told him calmly, as the team made their way back into the main streets. "Just be cool."

"_Your people told me they were sending the best!" _Herminio De Soto spat out._ "I'd hate to see your B-team!"_

"We're close." Brooks affirmed him insistently. "A couple more minutes, and we'll have you out of here."

Gunfire erupted from up ahead of the hilly road, and screams and yells of panic followed as some inhabitants of the town rushed down the road and away from the fire of the enemy foot soldiers. A few ran past the Spartans as they made their way up. Brooks rushed to the left of the road, and crouched behind the wall of a structure ahead of Davis, who rushed to take cover from behind the back of a station wagon in front. The glass windows of the parked car were shattered into thousands of pieces by the bullets, some of the shards running down the suit of Davis in the process.

"Come on Spartans!" Brooks bellowed out over communications. "Get it together!"

Castle and Franco began to advance towards the other two Spartans, taking positions behind stationary objects that provided an adequate amount of cover in combat. They fired blindly up the road, attempting to suppress any enemies ahead. Davis quickly emerged away from the back of the station wagon, before whipping another motion sensor straight in the air. The sensor landed far up the road, revealing four hostiles in red through the Specters' visors.

"Got four of them dead ahead!" Brooks shouted. "Take 'em all out!"

Davis, still in cover behind the station wagon, emerged outward to the right from the vehicle and took aim at a militant firing from behind a concrete barrier yards away. Bracing down the bullets that headed his way and past, Davis squeezed the trigger of his rifle hard, firing directly at the head of the hostile aggressor. The hostile foot soldier went down imminently.

"Target's down!" Franco quickly moved to where Davis previously was, crouching behind the back of the station wagon.

Striding to the left of the parked station wagon, Davis continued to aim down his sights and fired at an armed militant emerging from cover to the left, the bullets going through the man as he collapsed to the surface quickly. The other two militants, now feared shitless deep inside themselves, had scrambled back to retreat. All four Spartans began to move up.

"Moving!" Castle shouted, as he took up a position behind cover a few yards past the concrete barrier.

Davis could spot three enemies in front of him while advancing. There were two armed men hiding behind a skid with a few barrels and boxes on top of it. Another armed hostile was stationed behind an open window frame on the second floor of a structure to the left of the two men on the ground. There was one more behind a few wooden fences a metre above the two men and behind them. Davis quickly armed another frag grenade and skillfully tossed it over the concrete barrier and in the air, where it landed to the left of the two men behind the skid load of large debris, before it exploded.

"I got two of them!" Davis confirmed, as the signatures in red faded away quickly through his visor.

The man behind the fences and the man inside the structure continued to fire down at Davis and Castle. Castle, in turn, emerged away from his cover and returned suppressive fire at the man behind the wooden barriers. This allowed Franco, who stayed far to the left of Davis, to emerge from his cover and aim down his sights on the man behind the fence. A short burst of rounds from his rifle splintered the wooden boards of fence and through the militant's upper body, as the man collapsed lifelessly onto his back.

"There, through the window!" Castle barked at the remaining militant left, and fired straight at the man behind the window frame, instantly taking him down.

"Let's keep moving!" Brooks shouted, as the four Specters made their way up a path to their left.

Davis reloaded his personal defence rifle as he ran his way up. As they made their way up the ascending hill of a dusty, gravel path, they were met with a swarm of panicking civilians who ran downward in front of their way.

"_They're in the streets looking for me!" _De Soto desperately yelled over the radio. _"What the hell are you doing?!"_

Brooks continued his calm manor as he responded. "We're clearing 'em out along the way, sir. Sit tight."

"Come on, let's move!" Castle blared out to the civilians going past them. "Move it, people!"

Davis could still see more Bolivian citizens making their way down the hilly path, before shouting "Move! Get out of the way!"

As the civilians cleared the area, the four Spartans made their way up a flight of stairs to their left, before they stopped behind a wooden barricade in their way to the right.

"Squeeze under here," Brooks told the other three men, "but watch your heads."

One-by-one, the Spartans crouched past the wooden board that was just above their heads, and through the entire barricade. The squad of four then jumped down off the ledge and back onto a street where they continued to their left. They advanced up the street, just before they rounded the corner to the left and discovered a few vehicles blocking their path in front. Without warning, a rocket-propelled grenade zoomed straight at one of the vehicles from far ahead. The Spartans quickly scrambled away to different positions behind the blockade of vehicles.

"Smoke him!" Brooks shouted, as the rocket slammed into a truck and exploded, the explosion sending the truck up in the air and landing on its wheels hard. "Engaging targets, moving!"

"They're up on the roof!" Castle and Franco advanced from their positions. "Fucker's got an R.P.G.!"

Davis took cover behind the wall just around the bend of the street, panting harshly, before he armed a motion-sensing device from his belt. He emerged away from his cover for a quick second to toss the sensor out in the air, where it landed across the vehicular blockade and onto a spot nearby the suspected enemies. Three hostile militants were highlighted in red through their visors: one hiding behind some wooden fencing near the blockade to the left, and two of them armed with rocket launchers situated on the rooftops of the buildings ahead, on opposite sides of the road. Davis first rushed away from his cover before opening fire at the militant behind the wooden fences, who was eliminated instantly. He joined his team right by sliding to a stop, behind the white truck in the middle of the road. Another rocket-propelled grenade was fired, the small warhead exploding near the white truck to their right, shaking the ground around them and kicking up dirt and debris everywhere.

"Argonaut, Castle, take those R.P.G.'s out!" Brooks commanded them. "We'll cover for you."

The team leader and Franco then emerged from the white truck and started firing suppressive rounds at the men with the rocket launchers on the rooftops. While distracting the hostiles, Davis and Castle quickly bolted away from the white truck and focused their sights on the two targets. Davis quickly fired off in short bursts directly at the man on the rooftop of the building on the left, while Castle fired at the man on the right. Both were taken down swiftly.

"Alright, we're clear!" Brooks confirmed, before glancing at the rooftop of the right building. "He's history."

The four Spartans regrouped quickly before they raced down the road, where it had terminated at a small hill of rocks and stones. Instead, they continued up a short stairway to the left at the end of the road, right before a wall in front of them that was a few inches taller than all of the Specters. Brooks and Franco proceeded to help Davis and Castle up the wall, by having their backs against it, halfway crouched. With their rifles stowed aside on their backs, the dark-haired Specter and Castle climbed themselves up with their assistance, making their way onto the top of the wall. Davis then pulled the team leader up with one hand and used his efforts to lift him up over and on top of the wall. Castle did likewise with Franco once he was on. All four of the ZAFT Specters made their way over the wall and landed feet-first, withstanding the impact of their falls.

A hushed-up voice broke into their headsets; it was the long sought gun-runner. _"This is De Soto, can you hear me?"_

"We read you sir, go ahead." Brooks spoke, as the four of them made their way to their right and up a short stairway, their rifles drawn out again.

"_I'm at the safehouse. How much longer!"_

"Two, maybe three minutes. Are you secure?"

"_No! They're right outside!"_

"Just stay calm, alright?" They slowed around a small area full of old, run-down buildings under the sun. "Keep your head down."

Brooks then directed his communications towards his squad. "We don't want 'em to hear us comin'. Switch to suppressed."

Locating a large, red box with a white symbol of a rifle on it, Davis walked over to it. Underneath a crudely made roof, Davis opened up the box without much effort, only to find what appeared to be a sub-machine gun inside. It was already equipped with a suppressor attached to its muzzle, and a mounted tactical scope that supplemented the iron sights of the gun. Davis then swapped it with his light-machine gun, which had now little to nothing for the amount of ammunition it had. Closing the box, Davis glanced at the new rifle for a moment, capturing a peek at the printed words "ZIGO-F" and "ZAFT Military Issue" on it. He then rejoined his squad-mates as they slowly advanced before a set of double-doors at the end of the path in front.

"_I should never had trusted you!" _The now-irate voice of the gun-runner cut into their headsets. _"Your people gave me assurances!"_

Brooks shot back at him, slightly exasperated. "Sir, I assure you, we'll get you out—_IF_ you do what I tell you."

Davis and Castle proceeded to slide the doors far open enough for Brooks and Franco to go through. As they emerged out the way, the gun-runner despondently pleaded for the final time.

"…_J-Just hurry!" _A faint sound of a door being kicked open in the background. _"SHIT!"_

"De Soto!" Brooks shouted, but no answer. "De Soto!"

Again, there was no answer. Time was beginning to run out for them.

"Come on, Spartans! We gotta move!"

They made their way slowly before they stopped, where they found themselves before an open area full of a mosaic of buildings lined straight, a metre-and-a-half away. However, the area was also swarming with a large number of foot soldiers that were patrolling the vicinity where De Soto was.

"Area's too hot to handle." Brooks noted to the squad, before turning to Davis. "Deploy sensors. Don't set off any alarms, or they'll kill the V.I.P."

Davis affirmed with a nod. "Got it."

The young Spartan located a rusted-out piece of scrap metal that was a pickup truck, where he took cover behind it. He reached for a motion sensor sphere, arming it, and then throwing it in the air where it landed off behind what appeared to be a group of people. Its electric wave had revealed a congregate of five militants huddling around nearest the middle of the open space. Brooks moved up to Davis' right and slightly past him, taking cover behind a skid full of rusted-out metal barrels. Castle was now beside Davis behind the scrapped pickup, while Franco sneaked past the three and moved to the farthest right, where he identified a lone foot soldier in front.

"I've caught one rifleman. On the right." Franco returned back to the team swiftly.

Davis then quickly swapped his cover by rushing off quietly to join the team leader to his left, behind the skid of metal barrels. He then found a small skid of metal barrels just a few short yards away, located behind a tall tree just a bit to his right. The Spartan silently directed himself behind that small skid of barrels, where he then emerged out and slowly strafed his way to the unsuspected lone militant. With the Bolivian man's back turned to him, the Spartan reached for his combat knife and held it steady with one hand, as he was within striking distance. In a flash, one covered hand shot up from behind to cover the man's mouth and taking him by surprise. Another hand had the blade of the knife piercing through the man's throat, running it through and across in a swift motion, severing his jugular in the process. A few squirts of blood, followed by the now-lifeless militant collapsing face-first, a pool of blood forming from the deep gash of a wound.

"Hostile down." Davis confirmed under his breath, placing the knife back into its place. "I'm moving up."

"Copy."

Davis proceeded to advance up a stairway whilst in a crouching position, with the rest of his team joining him.

"If they see us, they'll kill him for sure." Brooks warned quietly.

Hugging the wall in front of him, Davis advanced along the concrete wall, where he found a large gap that separated between him and the rest of the barrier. He managed to quickly advance past the gap and behind the wall again without being noticed. He then scrambled his way to the end of the path, where there was an open doorway to his left. He positioned himself against the right side of the doorway, where he took a quick glance out the doorway to find another lone militant who was relaxing against the corner of the side of a structure. It was then that Davis popped out from the right to open fire at the militant with the sub-machine gun he carried with him. The militant went down without a sound.

"Target's down."

Time was now even scarcer, as the Spartans made their way past the doorway and turned to their right, before they finally located the Bolivian drug-runner's hideout.

"They'll shoot him if they know we're coming," Brooks warned again, "so let's make sure they don't."

As they advanced closer and closer towards his safehouse, they could begin to see the blue outline of a large, male body being forced-down onto what appeared to be a table inside the house.

"Location confirmed. He's in there." Davis spoke to Brooks.

"What's the count?"

Davis peered his eyes through the window of the house, identifying four hostile men along with a forced-down, cowering De Soto inside. "Four, plus the V.I.P."

Brooks commanded to the team. "Stack up; we'll go in fast. Check your targets."

Davis then took the position underneath the window, while Castle took a position underneath a window to the left side of the house, around the corner from where Davis was. The team leader and Franco had their rifles armed and ready, behind opposite sides of the main door of the house. A loud, pained groan was heard through the window, as a militant swung the butt of his semi-automatic rifle against the back of the gun-runner's head. Davis winced at the sound of the impact to himself. The situation was now at its precarious, most extreme end, and Davis did not want any more of what will happen without his team's intervention. He was truly prepared, the adrenaline surging through his veins.

"Ready? On me." Brooks breathed out quietly. "_EXECUTE, EXECUTE, EXECUTE!_"

In the back of Davis' eyes, a brown seed dropped down in an abyss before it bounced up and exploded into a million tiny fragments, revealing a rushing stream of 1s and 0s outward the zone of impact. The Spartan quickly rose up, before he smashed open the window with his elbow, and vaulted over the frame before going through. At the same time, Castle broke open the window at the left side and vaulted over, while Franco kicked down the door and allowed Brooks and him to go through.

Time slowed down even more, and this time Davis broke his eyes open in both shock and determination, as he found himself moving at around the normal pace. However, the whole environment around him had slowed down by a whole lot, as if someone had adjusted the speed of motion downward with the press of a button. Ignoring this in his head, he focused on the first militant directly in front of him. Using the suppressed ZIGO-F, he pulled the trigger while taking aim at the man in front, taking him down in misting sprays of blood with a few bursts. He then directed his aim towards another militant to his right, before firing again. The other militant collapsed downward as the bullets travelled through him, more spurts of blood coming out in the air. At the same time, Castle subdued the third man to Davis' left, by swinging the back end of his rifle against the man's head, knocking him out with a heavy blow. Finally, team leader Brooks opened fire on the last man who remained to Davis' far right, shooting him down to the ground.

Before Davis could ever realize what had happened around him, time sped back up again. He suddenly heard the overweight gun-runner screaming in front of him.

"_DIE, YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!"_ Herminio quickly reached for his handgun, and was about to move around.

Davis quickly got to him in time, and subdued him quick before he could ever use the gun. The drug-runner let out a loud yell as the Spartan got a hold of him, twisting one of his arms behind his back in the process. Davis then handed the golden machine pistol to Castle, who held onto it, as he continued to subdue the man.

"Command, Spartan." Brooks communicated to the head operator. "We have the package."

"_Roger that, Spartan. Snowbird took damage. She's airborne, but we can't risk the bird again, and the alternate L.Z.'s too hot—"_

"YOU CALL THIS A RESCUE?!" Herminio spat out, before Davis restrained him further.

The head operator continued over the radio. _"—we'll have to go to contingency."_

Brooks then instructed the team. "Change of plans. We're headed back downhill."

Davis then switched weapons with his primary weapon, a semi-automatic handgun equipped with a suppressor, labelled "NXR5" on one side of the gun. As soon as the three Spartans in front of him led the way, he took the one arm of the gun-runner and dragged Herminio with him.

"Move, move!"

Herminio growled out. "I can walk on my own!"

As they approached the exit out into the streets again, they stopped, taking positions on opposite ends of the doorway.

"Hold here!" Davis brought the Bolivian man down beside a pile of boxes.

Silence filled the air for a moment, as the team leader and Franco scanned every area of the outside environment, before they could proceed with escorting the drug-runner out in the open.

"At least give me a weapon! I can fight!" Herminio exclaimed at the two men in front of him.

Brooks turned back to him. "We don't need you getting shot again, sir." He then directed to the rest of team Spartan. "Form up around the V.I.P., diamond formation!"

The three Spartans made their way out the doorway, before Davis could finally pull Herminio away from the house.

"Alright, let's go!" Davis told him.

The Spartan escorting the gun-runner made his way out the door, standing beside the three Spartans taking guard, right before a market area full of civilians mingled in small groups of three or four. It had all seemed to be peaceful for a few moments, but it was only before chaos had been put in place again.

Without any warning, a technical sped up from the road straight ahead, its mounted gunner firing brazenly at the unsuspected crowd. Screams and yells tore through the air as the vehicle was gunning at the direction of the Spartans, the crowd in its path.

Brooks yelled. "Truck! Watch that truck!"

Some civilians managed to get out of the way, as the technical careened and skidded to the right, smashing through some of the market stalls in its path. Some civilians were not lucky, as they were mowed down by the oncoming vehicle, a few bodies flying everywhere and blood being left on the truck's dented front end. Davis aimed his handgun directly at the mounted gunner, who was exposed instantly, and fired. The mounted gunner fell aback and off the bed of the truck, dying, as more civilians ran for their lives.

"Get fire on those guys, or we're not gonna make it!" Franco blared at the others.

Davis quickly fired in short bursts at the militant emerging out the vehicle, taking him down. Escorting De Soto with one arm, and using the handgun with the other, Davis advanced and fired more shots at a militant that remained around the corner of a stall to the left of the road, killing him.

"Keep fire on 'em, we got this!" Castle shouted.

The advancing Davis then focused to his right, and shot at another militant through a stand full of watermelons. The bullets burst through the melons into pieces, before landing their mark on the live target, taking him down instantly. In the midst of the panic surrounding them, Davis and De Soto found themselves behind the side of the parked technical in front.

"Down, now!"

Brooks positioned himself beside Davis behind the truck, while Castle and Franco took positions behind a red pickup truck that was parked next to the technical, before they returned fire on any enemies converging. More bullets were exchanged in the crossfire, as Davis could make out a Bolivian militant on a mounted gun, firing from the rooftop of the building in front of his sights.

"This is it!" Herminio screamed. "I'm going to die!"

Ignoring the gun-runner's screams of helplessness, Davis fired his silenced handgun at the man on the rooftop, killing him with the precise accuracy of his shots. More screams of fear and panic filled the area, as the gunshots continue to ring out from everywhere. Castle and Brooks could spot enemy reinforcements coming from their right, six men already rushing from the side and firing at the Spartans and the remaining civilians that were in the way.

"We gotta push, or we gonna get smoked!" Castle shouted, as he fired his personal defence rifle at one of the six men, taking down one in the process.

Davis looked around at the buildings in front of him, as he saw one armed militant coming out from a doorway and onto a balcony. He aimed at the enemy hostile with the handgun and fired, the bullets somehow connected with its target. The intense exchange of fire continued on, and it was getting too tense for the Spartans already.

"Left!" Brooks shouted over. "Head behind those buildings!"

Castle moved away from the red truck with Franco in tow. "Moving, moving!"

"Move, move!" The team leader barked out. "Clear the way!"

Franco moved to the left of the escort, while Brooks guarded at the right of the gun-runner. Castle was right behind the two of them, his silenced pistol drawn out.

Davis shouted, as he took Herminio with him towards the path at their left. "GO! GO! GO!"

The four men, plus the weapons smuggler, moved quickly through the street. A large number of innocent men and women came their way, rushing past them in all of the panic and confusion going on around the vicinity.

"I would've been better off on my own!" De Soto cried out.

Davis turned to him for a quick glance. "Keep moving, come on!"

Several yards ahead of them, another pickup truck barreled through from the left, smashing a wall to a stop. Davis could spot one gunman exiting the truck in a flash.

"Move it, come on!" Davis shouted, as he fired the silenced handgun again.

Franco moved up slightly ahead of Davis to assist him by also firing at the militant out of the truck, with Davis continuously firing in combination, instantly taking down the man right away. Two more gunmen emerged from the left and the right sides at the end of the path, who fired their semi-automatic rifles at the Spartans carrying the escort with them. Davis and Franco kept on exchanging back fire, the bullets going through the two armed men, who promptly collapsed down to the ground. A few bullets had travelled and struck the gas tank of the white pickup, causing it to burst into a huge fireball, the explosion rocking the area and heard across the vicinity.

"Right, right! Through the alley!"

"Pass is complete!" Castle shouted. "No better time than for some armed escapades!"

The team leader cut around Davis and the V.I.P., going ahead to round the corner through the alley, before promptly firing his personal defence rifle at a charging gunman right in front of him. As the five men made their way at the end of the alleyway, a couple of explosions rocked the path to their left, including one that almost got to the Specters just at the end of the alley.

"FRAG!"

De Soto was now unnerved by the death and chaos being too close to him.

"Fuck you!" He spat out again. "I'll get myself out—_urk!_"

Davis gave him a choke hold with one arm to shut him right up, before he pushed his head down, forcing his whole body down to the ground.

"Down! On the ground!" The Spartan barked out, as incoming bullets bounced off the walls of the alley.

"Keep him covered!" Brooks shouted, as he fired back at the attacking gunmen, along with Castle and Franco. "Watch our six!"

"I'm holding!" Davis turned 'round, keeping the gun-runner in his place, as he aimed his sights with the handgun at any enemy militants coming from behind.

He could see a few civilians running past from his left and right, as they cowered in terror from the crossfire happening nearby. However, Davis was startled by a few bursts of enemy fire that landed at the ground closer and closer to him and the V.I.P., before it stopped, immediately signalling that they were now closing in from behind.

"We're losin' time!" Davis shouted to the others behind him.

"Come on, we can do this!" Franco shouted back.

Davis turned back to focus his sights again with his silenced pistol still drawn in his hand. Suddenly, he could see one militant coming in from the right, the gunman with his semi-automatic rifle drawn out. Davis fired his silenced pistol in rapid bursts, taking down the gunman, before another had shown up to his left. He continued to fire the handgun, aiming down on the man coming from the left. The militant collapsed imminently, before a third one had shown up from the right, firing a few bursts with his rifle. The bullets narrowly missing the squad of four, Davis aimed and fired again, with the bullets shredding through the Bolivian man's body. The gunman collapsed to his left, falling on top of the other man's body in a bloody heap.

"Go time!" Brooks shouted to the squad.

All four Spartans began to rise up quick in the midst of the crossfire, with Davis escorting Herminio by his arm again.

"Let's go, let's go!" Davis shouted at him, as they moved forward to the left of the street. "Come on, come on!"

As they moved out from the alley, Brooks and Franco took positions in front, guarding the escort left and right, respectively.

"Mop 'em up!" Castle shouted, as he followed from behind.

With the primary weapon still drawn, Davis shot at a gunman who leapt off from a rooftop of a one-storey building to his right. The man was instantly shot dead as his feet had touched the ground. The Spartans exchanged fire with the Bolivian gunmen who were on the rooftops of the one-storey buildings to their right, taking down some of them as they progressed their way through.

"Check your left!" Brooks roared out, as Davis shot dead another militant behind a short row of wooden planks on a rooftop.

Making their way down the path, the Spartans encountered two enemy hostiles firing right at them, one of them beside the trashed pickup that was now ablaze. The adrenaline coursing through his body, Davis fired at and killed the man beside the flaming scrap metal, while Franco took down the other man to his right.

"Let's go, let's go!" Castle yelled, with all four continuing to advance.

Unexpectedly, a militant far ahead, hiding around from inside a building to their right, emerged out with a rocket launcher and fired. The small warhead zoomed straight at the group of five.

"R.P.G., watch it!" Davis shouted, with all four Spartans diving quickly onto the ground. "Get down, get down!"

The rocket round zipped past the Spartans sprawling all over the ground, with Davis covering up the V.I.P. from the oncoming rocket. It slammed into a wall yards behind them, before it exploded, sending huge clouds of dust and debris everywhere in the air.

"Whoa, shit!" Franco cursed, as all of their ears were ringing from the impact of the explosion.

"COVER THE V.I.P.!" Brooks screamed at his squad. "ENGAGE, ENGAGE!"

"Returning fire!"

His back forced against the live body of the gun-runner, Davis was leaned back with his legs sprawled out on the ground. As he lowered down the handgun that was up in the air—at the same time, two gunmen barged out from the door of a garage in front of him—time slowed down around him again. Not realizing what had happened again, and instead realizing that he had only a small number of rounds left in his magazine, Davis took advantage of the slow-down in motion around him. He aimed precisely at the head of the gunman to his left and fired, before turning his aim towards the head of the other gunman that was to his right. The bullets travelled quickly, before they went past the skulls of the two hostiles firing at them. Both of them began to collapse, just before a third man rushed from behind them, angered and with his semi-automatic rifle drawn out. Davis fired a few more bullets at the man rushing from ahead, instantly stopping him dead in his tracks.

Time sped back up again, as the Spartans found themselves clear of the enemies in front.

"Go! Go! Go!" Brooks shouted repeatedly, his squad rising right back up with the V.I.P. still in one piece.

"You alright?" Castle asked De Soto as he rose up.

"I'm fine!"

"Keep moving!" Brooks continued to shout, as his team attempted to move forward down the path gingerly.

Up ahead of them, a few civilians were chased by an oncoming technical that sped down their path, its mounted gunner firing wildly at the Spartans in the shortening distance.

"Watch it, WATCH IT!" One of the Spartans screamed, as the truck tore through small piles of boxes, and running down an unlucky civilian in its path.

With no time to lose, Brooks saw a set of tall, wooden doors to his right.

"Take down that door!"

The team leader and Castle kicked down the doors with all their might, making their way inside a large, empty garage, in time just before the white pickup could get to them.

"Get the package inside!" Brooks shouted, as he led Davis and the gun-runner into the enclosed space.

As they all made their way into the empty garage, the technical slammed into the wooden door of the structure, sending the mounted gunner flying out the bed and jolting the truck upward before landing. Castle got out his sniper rifle and shot through the windshield of the truck, killing the driver, and sending a large patch of blood at the back window inside.

"Yeah, give 'em hell, son!" He shouted, before joining the team back to escort the V.I.P. all the way to the contingency landing zone.

* * *

The blades of the transport helicopter spun around, as it landed a short distance away from the town.

"I…I don't believe it." Herminio turned to the team leader. "You…you got me out."

The team leader then helped the gun-runner board the helicopter, before all four of them did. With the close of a door, the transport chopper began to lift off, up into the air and away from the chaos and battling that took place in the town. Clouds of thick black smoke billowed off into the air distances away from each other within the town.

_**To be continued in PHASE-03: "Swift on the Jackal".**_

* * *

**And that is that! Seriously, I did not expect to write down a chapter full of 10,000+ words, let alone over 13,500 words (after using the word count tool). But to do that is a personal accomplishment, as I had never wrote a chapter that long in one of my previous fanfics. And now that's put aside, I'll discuss a few things that happened in this chapter.**

**Firstly, as mentioned in the end notes for the first chapter, one of the direct influences for Gundam SEED Reflex is Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. For this chapter, it is basically taken off from the second mission of the game, "Nimble Guardian", where the squad of four are tasked to rescue a weapons smuggler in South America. Also as mentioned before, most of the missions that ZAFT Specter Team "Spartan" will partake, are the same as the missions in GR: FS, so it shouldn't come as a surprise for some.**

**Secondly, a reviewer pointed out that there will be more infantry warfare in the rest of the story. Yes, it is true that there will be more of the same throughout the rest of the story, but I also intend to focus on what made Gundam…well, Gundam. And that being, warfare between mobile suits and other machines. That will be touched upon a bit later into the story. **

**Lastly, for those who have read all the way to the end of the chapter, something had happened with Davis as his team went for the breach to rescue Herminio at his safehouse. I can also confirm the same thing too, what with what I call the "Advanced SEED" mode. I mentioned this in the GSR Fact Sheet over at dA, but not here, and this will be explained further at the end notes of the next chapter and in future chapters. For now, stay tuned for more! **


	7. PHASE-03: Swift on the Jackal

**Author's Note: **Hey guys, what's up? Sorry for not pushing out the third chapter so soon enough. I had some time off from my two-week vacation, and that's primarily the reason why I did not update this last month. But the wait is now over, as the third chapter has finally arrived! There's going to be a whole lot more action in this chapter, much like the last one, and there will be another character that will be introduced at the end of this chapter. So, without further delay, here's chapter #3 of SEED Reflex. Enjoy!

* * *

**Voltage Axe Presents**

_**Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Reflex**_

**PHASE-03: Swift on the Jackal**

* * *

**February 9, C.E. 93  
****South Atlantic Ocean, Eternal-class ship **_**Polemos  
**_**0500 Hours**

"What a bunch of wankers, that's all I'm sayin'," a gruff voice spoke out in a mild English accent.

The sheer loudness of electronic instruments and bass drops blared out through the room, as a black-haired male in his special combat uniform tended to another man in the same uniform who was sitting near him. With the small compartment opened around the upper-back portion of the sitting man's uniform, the black-haired man adjusted his frameless glasses by the bridge, before he made the adjustments on said man's internal equipment within the suit.

"But you know they're right about it," responded another uniformed man who was laying on a lower-level bunk bed across from the sitting man. "A handyman can get his shit done, I'd take it as a better deal."

"Frankie, you don't know that, and neither do all of us," the young Englishman spoke back, in the same gruff manner, as the man at the bunk bed across had puffed smoke from his cigarette.

Just as the dirty-blond Englishman finished his response, Davis firmly shut the small compartment closed at the back of the man's combat suit.

"That should work," Davis grinned as he patted him on the back a few times.

"You don't need duct tape," Castle sternly told Franco as he began to rise up.

"Hey, I'm just sayin'." Franco looked down on his smartphone. "It's the better deal."

Castle then turned to Davis, as he gave the nod to him.

"Try it now."

With a few taps of his fingers on the left wrist portion of his armoured gloves, Castle's body was encased in a manipulated field of light that rendered his body virtually invisible to anyone in plain sight.

"How's that?" Castle asked Franco and Leung, as he looked all around at rest of his body appearing much less opaque with the internal cloaking device turned on.

Elsewhere in the ship, the team leader of the Spartan group walked down a hallway with the female pilot of the helicopter beside him.

"We need to get spun up, ASAP," Brooks told the female next to him.

"How long does the team need?"

"To prep?" Brooks answered. "About thirty seconds."

They neared the door where the rest of the Spartans were in the room, as the rhythmic electronic sounds continued to blare beneath the door. Brooks proceeded to open the door, with the female pilot entering their quarters, before they noticed Castle in his invisible state in front of them.

"Just got the green light, people," Brooks told the rest of the team, before he had shut off the boombox near him. "Let's get it together."

"Franco, shut it down," Brooks told him, before tossing a ruggedized tablet device at him.

The man lying on the bunk bed caught the tablet computer, before he turned off the cloaking device on his suit, now rendering his body quite visible.

"Castle." He tossed another tablet at the dirty-blond man, who proceeded to shut off the cloaking on his suit.

"Leung." Brooks handed the last tablet device to the black-haired man sitting on the edge of his bed, before turning the cloaking off on his suit completely.

"So, they actually got these working?" The female pilot remarked at their combat suits. "Not bad."

"Well, Mudrov's tech works great, until you move too fast in it…." Franco got up, only to sit on the edge of his bed. "What's the op?"

"Warlord, hiding in a refugee camp," Brooks explained. "Sounds like he's got the same suppliers as our friends in South America. Intel's on your PTDs."

He patted a hand down on Castle's shoulder, just before he walked off and left. The other three Spartans were now reaching for their rifles and other equipment, inspecting them before they could ever use them in their next mission.

* * *

"_The man you brought in, De Soto, leaked out about a hundred names," Commander Kira Yamato explained. "A majority of them are small to mid-time players in South America, but we did discover one unusual connection."_

_He paused. "Gentlemen, we're heading to Africa."_

"_De Soto's gear was only part of a larger shipment," Commander Yamato further explained. "Another part went into Zambia, to a man named Solomon Kalenga, also known as the 'Jackal'. Kalenga is known as a corrupt warlord and war criminal, having fled to Zambia following the final Bloody Valentine war, where he set up shop right in the middle of a refugee camp."_

_The commander continued. "He's got a fresh shipment en route. Kalenga's just a means to an end. Your priority is intel on the source of that shipment. Our window's tight on this, so it's gonna have to be a daylight raid. A local contact will help you get into the camp. Find Kalenga, find his shipment, and find his source. Evgeniy Mudrov, our chief designer, is here to explain the new equipment you will use."_

"_Yes, thank you very much, Commander." He cleared his throat. "Due to the nature of the architecture used in the suits, the Chameleon camouflage system cannot function properly when you're moving too fast. It is, however, best for when you're holding position or just taking it slowly."_

_The chief designer and head researcher continued. "I have added another new feature into these combat suits. The magnetic optics will make any metal in the vicinity appear more in your field of view. Mines, guns, hidden caches, you name it! That's all for now. Good luck on your adventures, Team Spartan!"_

* * *

**February 9, C.E. 93  
****Western Province, Zambia, South African Union  
****1000 Hours**

The blazing heat and humidity that surrounded the wide, open and desolated area did not bother the civilians of a small village very much, as they sauntered down a dusty and sandy road to the right side. As the line of civilians travelled down the path at their leisurely pace, they could hear a vehicle coming from behind them, to their left. A dented, white pickup truck sped down the road slowly beside them, with the heavy beats of localized rap music blaring out the open windows of the truck. Its occupants were the driver, and two men sitting at the bed of the vehicle, with their semi-automatic rifles drawn out.

The man sitting on the right side of the truck's bed, with his dust-laden baseball cap worn in reverse, told the driver in the Bemba language to stop the truck and back away so that he could talk to the two civilians he had passed by. The truck reversed after slowing to a stop, before it braked again, as the man with the dirtied cap leapt off from the bed and encountered the two civilians in front of him. The man in the cap, with his rifle out in his hands, spoke to a male civilian carrying a travel bag in the same language. He then swung the back end of his rifle at him, knocking him down to the ground, causing the other civilian—a woman in her mid-30s—to panic at the sight, along with a few other civilians surrounding him. As the other civilians behind them had turned around and ran away, the man with the rifle had then swung his fist at the woman's face and assaulted her, before apprehending her from escaping and speaking out in Bemba of what he was going to do with her.

Forcing her down onto the ground, the man told his two friends at the truck to just go off ahead from him, as he had his intentions towards the innocent woman now trying to crawl away from him. He then forcefully pushed her down with one foot, the already-defenceless woman on her side. Grabbing her by the back of her head, he had dragged the cowering female some yards to near a burning, wooden shack, continuing to speak of his ill intentions towards her. Now forcing her up, the man tried to sexually assault her, the woman putting up the struggle in the process. It wasn't until she managed to get him off her by blinding him in the eyes with the jabs of her hands, his baseball cap flying off the process. The man hollered in pain, as he muttered out angrily holding his face and eyes, while the woman desperately attempted to flee away from him.

Behind a large rock, an invisible man in special combat armour saw everything happen in front from yards away. As the woman stumbled onto the ground again and trying to get back onto her feet, and with the man reaching for his semi-automatic rifle, the man communicated over the radio.

"Say the word, Chief."

A response.

"Quietly."

Firmly balanced whilst crouched, the invisible soldier slowly made his way from the rock, where he approached the man trying to reload his rifle from behind. Before the man could even get his rifle loaded completely, the invisible Specter pointed the barrel end of his suppressed assault rifle at the back of the man's head and fired. A few large splotches of blood and bits of flesh flew from the exit wound, followed by the now-visible Specter holding the body down with an arm around the neck, before the soldier had gently let the now-lifeless man down onto the ground.

"_Spartan, this is Command. What's your status?"_

"Command, Spartan is in position," The team leader responded, as he emerged from his position, along with Castle and Franco. "Ready to move on the go."

"_Copy that. Primary objective is to locate and secure Kalenga's latest weapons shipment."_

"And Kalenga?"

"_Secondary. His suppliers are our main interest."_

"Copy. Spartan out."

Once all Spartans were invisibly cloaked with the adaptive camouflage system automatically deploying, the group of four soldiers headed out to a remote village to their north-west, full of a few rounded huts that were spread out from each other. One of the dwellings was also set on fire, the thickened and dark smoke billowing off from the flames consuming the structure of straw, wood, and stone. The team leader and Franco proceeded to crouch behind a rock that was placed about a fourth of a kilometre away from the village, while Davis and Castle advanced slowly on opposite sides of the rock and ahead of the two before they stopped and observed.

"Hostile with an assault rifle," Brooks reported to the two men ahead whilst peeking behind the rock. "Right there, he's by the well."

As Davis and Castle began advancing at a slow pace again, towards the village, the team leader could spot another couple of hostile men right near the man beside the well.

"I got eyes on two more, right in front of us."

Davis slowly moved his way towards a wide stone barrier that was situated beside a rounded hut. Behind the cover, he got out his suppressed assault rifle and focused his aim on the closest man who was standing behind a small stone barrier. Using the electronic attachment embedded inside the rifle, Davis pushed a button on the rifle with a thumb to electronically tag an enemy for one of his squad-mates to lock on to. Through Castle's visor, he could see a small, white chevron pointing down on the tagged hostile's head, with a "1" labelled on the chevron. Davis proceeded to point his rifle at another hostile man some yards away, with his back turned to him, looking over what appears to be a few civilian hostages down on their knees. The Spartan tagged him as well, as Castle saw a chevron pointing down on the man's head with a "2" labelled instead. That signalled to Castle that it was now his target to lock onto.

"Got eyes on a fourth rifleman too." Davis tagged the two other hostile men, where one was behind the terrified hostages, and another was to their left.

"Moving to positions." Brooks and Franco slowly made their way to spots suitable enough to lock onto their tagged targets.

Once all four Spartans got into their suited positions, they trained their sights on the four hostiles that were tagged and indicated through their visors.

"Ready to sync on three." Brooks prepared them. "One…two…three."

On cue, the four Spartans pulled the triggers on their assault rifles, the sounds of their shots muffled out by the suppressors attached to the barrel ends of their guns. Their bullets connected to their intended targets, and all four of the hostile men went down in front of the already-terrified hostages. As soon as they saw the men that held them captive go down in streaks of blood across their bodies, the three hostages began to panic and flee away. The noise they made as they all fled had attracted a guard nearby who wasn't identified by the Specters, causing him to rush from a rounded hut and discovering the dead bodies of his comrades on the ground. The Spartans took notice of the man coming into the scene, and began to converge on him immediately.

"That sure set him off!" Castle snidely remarked, as the man yelled in his home language angrily and saw the now-visible Spartans coming after him.

The guard backed away quickly with his rifle drawn out and fired wildly at the four men in special combat gear in doing so, before he was gunned down quickly in a spray of bullets coming from them.

"He's down, we're clear!" Brooks spoke out, before they trekked out for the next village. "We need to get eyes on that camp, see what we're dealing with. On me."

As they passed by the rounded hut that continued to burn up in flames, Davis thought to himself of the events that happened the day before, when they were in Colombia. He reflected back to the times in particular when they had actually rescued the stubborn and obnoxious man being the sought-after weapons smuggler, away from his safehouse and extracted him in one piece after the dangerous situations that were brought upon them. As his team and he began advancing towards their next objective, he recalled the strangest instances that surrounded him during those particular times. When it was there, he would experience what appeared to be time and motion being manipulated before his eyes, adversely changing the way he would interact with the environment around him. It had shocked the hell out of him, even sending chills down through the cord of his spine. He would ask to himself afterwards, '_what_ happened?', '_why_ did it happen?', and '_how_ did it happen?'

It was the only mystery that he had yet to try and find the answers himself. Before he could go further in his thoughts however, the team leader of the Spartan squad broke through his cycle of thought.

"Slow down. I think I see something popping up."

In the shortening distance, was the village in front of their plain view, and within that village were what seemed to be civilians taking notice of something heading their way. The civilians then turned back and began to run for their lives, as what was heading their way, was a white technical coming after them at full speed.

"Down! Down!" The team leader commanded to the rest of his squad to get down.

All four Spartans quickly went down on the prone position at the same time, as they saw the white technical chasing down the innocent villagers with its mounted gunner firing wildly at the sprinting men and women.

"Do _not_ engage," the team leader advised them sternly. "They'd tear us up out here."

With their optical camouflage activated again, the Spartans observed the mounted gunner on the technical clipping down the civilian villagers, one-by-one. The sight of innocent civilians being gunned down by cold-blooded men had disgusted all of the squad, including Davis. It had sickened him even further at the thought of these civilians, who only wanted to live without any violence surrounding them and did not want be part of it, having been caught in the midst of the same violence that prevailed over them. Castle let out a deep, but quiet growl of anger as he saw virtuous men and women fall in the bloodshed caused by these men in vehicular monstrosities. Franco remained calm, but he knew he was downright incensed deep inside with this occurring in front of his eyes. Brooks, the team leader, also remained calm; in fact, even calmer than the rest of his squad, holding back whatever judgement he had over the situation happening right in front of him. They had then spotted the technical appearing to head their way, followed by a few more armed vehicles behind it.

Brooks instructed them, "Keep your heads down! Prone and crawl."

With the local rap music coming from the vehicles that were blaring in the distance, all four Spartans began to slowly move off to the left side and away from the oncoming vehicles headed their way. They made it to a line of thinning brush that had proved to be adequate for additional cover, just in time, as the three pickup trucks approached and drove past by. Once the area was clear of the vehicles already gone past them, Brooks confirmed that the coast was clear.

"Alright, we should be good."

The squad of four soldiers rose back up on their feet and continued to slowly make their way towards the village. As they closed in on the village, one of the Spartans noticed a hostile man with a semi-automatic rifle right by a rounded hut, and next to a white pickup truck. Another hostile was located to the far right of the village and above a slope of large rocks, where he was spotted patrolling the area just by a burning building. Castle took position and aimed down his sights on the man on the far right, before he squeezed the trigger. The man on the far right went down right away when the bullets travelled and went through his torso.

"Hostile down."

"Got the other right by the truck."

Davis advanced to take cover behind a concrete barricade near the rounded hut with the remaining hostile man near it. He poked out from his cover only to quickly fire down on the man with his suppressed rifle, with the shots instantly killing the man.

"Target's eliminated."

The four ZAFT soldiers then made their way to the right, where they suddenly spotted an enemy hostile with his back turned to them up ahead. Before either one of them had an idea of what they were going to do, Davis took point and aimed at the man in front of him before he pulled the trigger. The man collapsed down onto the ground, letting out a dying groan as he was shot from the back. This caused the other hostile gunmen to take notice of his lifeless body, before they cried out angrily and rushed out to find his killers.

"Shit! They found his body! Engaging!" Brooks shouted.

"Heads up, they're moving!" Franco shouted as well.

Heavy bursts of gunfire erupted in the air, as the Spartans found themselves in a small, but intense battle between them and the remaining men loyal to the warlord at the village.

"Hostile, 9 'o clock!" Castle blared, as he fired at a gunman to his right.

"DEAD AHEAD!"

A few civilians within the area panicked and fled off to avoid being caught in the crossfire. Davis went around a tree, before he aimed down his sights on a man armed with a semi-automatic rifle who was taking cover behind a small wooden barricade. Firing in short, but rapid bursts, the bullets pierced through the man's skull before he collapsed down in a pool of blood. Before Davis knew it, a burst of bullets struck him in the torso areas that only provided maximum protection, but not enough as the titanium alloy in his upper body areas. He quickly went down on his stomach, lying in the prone position and ensuring that one of the bullets had not went through him.

"He's hit! Covering fire for him!" Castle rushed to Davis' aid, before he gave out suppressing fire against the hostile who tried to shoot him down.

"Got one!" Franco yelled, as his bullets shredded through a gunman's abdomen, before he came to flank the man who fired at Davis.

"Rifleman, to your left!" Brooks shouted over to Franco, as he finished off a gunman rushing from a rounded hut.

Franco immediately spotted a hostile to his left, and fired down on him before the man could even fire first. He then zipped to his right, before he shot at the man who tried to kill Davis. The man went down in a hail of bullets that went right through his chest and abdomen. They then heard a gunman screaming in his home language, as the man brandished a semi-automatic rifle and charged at Brooks from behind. Brooks, in a snap, spun around and fired his suppressed rifle at the man before he could even fire back. The man flew from his feet up and collapsed on his back, his body ridden by bullet holes and blood leaking out.

"Area's clear!" Brooks turned to the rest of the squad.

Castle helped Davis back up on his feet, before they were confronted by the team leader.

Brooks admonished him. "Leung, you pull this kind of shit again, we'll all get killed in no more than a second. Understood?"

Davis caught his breath. "Understood, Chief."

"Let's move."

The four men then rushed to make their way towards the observation point, and regrouped. All four of them slowed before they settled down before the edge of a cliff-side, overlooking what appeared to be a sea of tents that housed refugees that were caught in the wars and conflicts that preceded.

"That's one fuckin' huge camp," Castle remarked as he observed.

Davis turned to them. "There's no way we're finding Kalenga in all that, without any help."

"We wait for a view from upstairs, we might lose him," Franco noted.

"Franco, we go into that mess blind, we lose him for sure." Brooks then communicated to the head operator. "Command, Spartan. We need a SAT scan of the refugee camp."

"_Command copies,"_ the head operator responded. _"Stand by, we'll push it to you."_

* * *

'_SATELLITE SCAN INITIATED.'_

…

'_TRACKING LOCATION: ZAMBIA.'_

…

'_LOCATING: NORTH BORDER.'_

"_It's a powder-keg down there, gentlemen," Commander Kira Yamato spoke sternly. "Humanitarian crisis doesn't even begin to cover it."_

'_LOCATED: REFUGEE CAMP.'_

_Kira explained. "Kalenga's thugs control everything: food, water, and medical supplies. And what they can't control through possession, they control by fear."_

'_TARGET LOCATED: SOLOMON KALENGA.'_

"_There we go, that's our man." Kira then instructed team Spartan for further objectives. "Once you're inside, track him down, and he should lead you to the shipment." _

_A brief pause, before he continued. "The Jackal controls everything, one way or another. Everything begins and ends with the Jackal. He's your top priority in there."_

"_Roger, Command," Brooks responded over communications. "What's the E.T.A. on our ride?"_

"_Your contact's already on site," the commander answered him, before he further warned the team. "He'll have to keep a low profile. Just try not to draw any attention to him. He's putting a lot on the line to get us in."_

"_Copy that. Spartan's moving to rally."_

* * *

As the transmission ended through the indication on their visors, they noticed a group of four armed men surrounding a cargo truck, down at the road below. They had just disembarked from their dusty, white-coloured technical and were seemingly having a conversation with the driver inside the cargo truck. However, this brief exchange of conversation quickly went south when one of the armed gunmen pulled the driver out of his truck with force, and brought him with his back against the side of the truck.

Davis turned to his team leader. "Sir?"

"Yeah, I see them."

"We're gonna have to take them out."

Brooks replied back, "Yep. We'll have to do it clean." He advanced slowly along with Davis, who was to his left. "Line 'em up, hold fire until we're all on target."

As soon as Davis reached cover behind a rock, Brooks stopped beside him before he inched to the right to take a potential firing position. Castle and Franco did, likewise.

Davis pushed the button on his rifle to tag the enemies, one-by-one, electronically through their visors.

"Marked one," he hushed. "Marked two."

"And he's number three," Franco added quietly.

"Fourth target," Castle confirmed.

As all four Spartans got into their firing positions, they lined up their laser sights—actually invisible in broad daylight, but visible through their visors—and aimed them straight down at the heads of the armed men, who were now confronting the driver.

"Ready to fire, on my go." The team leader calmly prepared them. "Ready…_go_!"

The four ZAFT Specters proceeded to pull the triggers of their suppressed rifles, all at the same time. All four armed men who were now confronting the driver of the truck had now found themselves down on the ground, their skulls blown apart by the well-placed bullets from the men at the top of the hill.

"Scratched one!" Brooks confirmed the synchronized kills under his breath.

"That's it," Davis added. "He's clear."

"Load it up, let's go." Brooks and the rest of his team made their way down the hill to meet up with driver, who was all shaken up by what he had just seen at first, but had gradually found the strength to get back into driver's seat right away.

The driver slapped his hand hard against the driver-side door of the vehicle a few times, signalling them to get on. "Come on! Let's go! Quickly!"

One-by-one, the Spartans embarked themselves into the seating areas on the bed of the truck that was covered by the sheet around the hard-top of the vehicle. Once they all sat on the seats with their guns in tow, the driver simply took off, leaving the abandoned white pickup truck behind them.

The driver turned to the four Specters that were in the cargo bed. "Stay low, keep quiet. Don't attract any attention."

As the truck entered the refugee camp, the team leader of the Spartans instructed them further on that they were going to do.

"Listen up, Specters. I want to make sure we're clear on Rules of Engagement in here," he explained. "Once we hit the camp, we're engaged to clear any hostiles, as long as they don't raise any alarms. Get in close, make your first shot count. If you've got multiple targets, mark 'em and drop 'em at the same time."

Brooks turned to Castle. "Camo should be enough to let us slip in unnoticed. We need to keep it that way." He then turned to the other two men behind him. "If Kalenga spooks out, we lose our chance. We all need to be on point. Understood?"

"Got it," Davis responded.

"No sweat, Chief," Castle responded as well.

"Roger that!" Franco responded too.

While the cargo truck continued to traverse its way through the large settlement of war refugees, Team Spartan received an incoming transmission from the head operator.

"_Spartan, just a heads up. Looks like you've got a storm blowing your way. Don't mess around."_

"Copy that," Brooks responded. "We never do."

The cargo truck rounded a corner to the right and continued straight for another couple of miles, before it slowed to a stop. The Spartans then disembarked from the cargo bed of the truck, one-by-one, until all of their boots had landed onto the sandy and dusty terrain. Davis emerged from the truck's right as the others followed to infiltrate the camp, their adaptive camouflage automatically enabled whilst they moved.

"Remember, if you gotta kill, do it quiet," Brooks warned them as they slowly advanced. "If they sound the alarm, the mission's over."

"Understood," Davis replied.

Moving towards the shade casted by a tall tree right beside a rock, the four ZAFT Spartans began to spot four hostile men watching their surroundings around the entrance of the camp. To their right, one of the men guarding was on top of a roof of a single-storey building, shuffling slowly back and forth from the intense heat and humidity in the air. Below the man on the roof, was a yellow-shirted armed guard pacing away with his back turned to the Spartans. Two more armed guards were located farther to the right of the yellow-shirted male, next to each other and with their backs turned, facing the path lined with tents and civilians.

"What've we got?" Castle asked.

The team leader glanced through narrowed eyes. "Looks like a patrol."

"Marking the targets." Davis got out his suppressed assault rifle, and began to aim and mark the hostile men ahead of them. "One marked."

"I got the second." Castle moved off to a suitable firing position.

Franco noted, "Third man."

"And I've got the fourth." Brooks moved away from shade of the tree and off to the other side of the tree, where he took aim at the man conversing with the other man beside him. "Ready on your go."

"Ready now," Davis hushed up, before he squeezed the trigger. "Fire, fire!"

In an instant, all four men guarding the entrance went down quietly, as the bullets made their mark and through their bodies. The team leader gave off a sigh of relief to himself, as he began moving along with the squad.

"We're clear. Let's be careful out there."

"Reloading." Davis quickly replaced the magazine on his assault rifle with a fresh, new one, while the others did the same to refill the ammunition on their weaponry.

Sneaking through the security checkpoint devoid of the armed guards, the Spartans snuck their way through and into the northerly part of the camp. Davis followed his squad-mates, as they broke up and traversed by the single-storey brown building that used to have the man watching over on the rooftop.

Brooks spotted a couple of hostiles, before he moved off to the left and took cover by the building behind Davis. "I've got eyes on two, up ahead to the right."

They rounded a corner to the left, with one path broken up into two by the rows of tents that were set-up to house the enslaved refugees. Davis could see the two armed men further down in the route to the right. Castle swiftly moved off to take behind a wall of worn-out tires, just in front of the route to the left. Franco also moved off to take cover behind a tent, and peeked out to see what was ahead on the path to the left. There was an armed man alone by a white pickup truck, along with a few civilians sitting on plastic lawn chairs.

He continued to focus on the sight in front of him. "One hostile's all by himself. Civilians are there too."

Brooks instructed the young Spartan. "Leung, take the kill when you're ready."

Without a word, Davis moved ahead of the Spartans whilst crouched, doing his best to remain silent as he got closer and closer to the man unaware of his presence. Within the striking distance, Davis pulled out his combat knife halfway from its sheath, focusing on the man whose back was turned to him. As fast as a flash of light, he lunged off from his feet, the palm of his hand reaching out to take the armed man by surprise. The Spartan managed to cover up his mouth forcefully, before quickly taking out the knife and digging it in deep into the man's neck, before ripping through his jugular with a swipe. In front of the horrified civilians, the armed thug went down face-first, a trail of blood emerging from the deep gash around his neck.

Before they had time to figure out what had happened, the now-panicked civilians scrambled out from their chairs, and rushed off and away from the scene. They had ran past the cloaked Spartan who had performed the kill, and was now moving ahead with the rest of his team following behind him. Leading the way, Davis continued down the path with tents to his left and right, and rounded a corner to the right before he stopped along with his team. In the short distance ahead, there were two armed guards by a water well, watching over what appeared to be two enthralled refugees fetching a few bowls of water from the well. Davis took out his assault rifle and tagged the armed soldier to his right, before he took aim at the guard on his left. Castle positioned himself beside Davis to take aim at the guard on the right. At once, both of them fired their rifles, the bullets making their mark and past the bodies of the guards. The two refugees scrambled away from the scene, terrified at the sight of the armed men collapsing to the ground.

Passing by a few Zambian males congregating in front of a path, the Spartans made their way to where the two armed men had fallen. They continued to their left, heading past a few female refugees who were caught off-guard, before they made their way into an area inhabited by a large group of people. Just past and under the derelict, tent-like wooden structure of tattered cloths hanging on top, a group of defenceless refugees were huddling close to each other and cowering, while two of Kalenga's men had their rifles pointed at them. Castle and Franco took cover behind a stack of boxes and coloured crates, as Davis got in position to tag the two hostiles that were going to open fire on the civilians.

Brooks commanded, "Castle, Franco. Line up on the marked targets."

As soon as the two Spartans got out of cover and lined up their aim at the heads of the two thugs, the team leader gave the order to fire.

"We're set. Leung, on your go."

Davis proceeded to give out a hand signal to the two men, before they both opened fire. The two armed thugs went down, as the bullets pierced through their bodies at the same time, also causing the group of five civilians to flop down in a panic. The civilians then scrambled off their feet and rocketed away from the scene without making much noise in the process. The civilians cleared the way for the Spartans to proceed further ahead, before they stopped behind a few walls of sandbags after rounding a corner to the right, before peeking out from the sides.

From their left, they could see one of the Jackal's men sitting on a red, steel drum, with another armed accomplice nearby. They were watching over a couple of male refugees, coerced into transporting what appeared to be supplies in large burlap sacks, onto the beds of transport trucks stowed in tent-like garage structures. The armed man standing nearby the sitting man, identified in his black tank top and dusty beige cap worn backwards, saw a male refugee slowly carrying a burlap sack to a truck. Taking a few steps, he forcefully shoved the refugee from behind as a message for him to work faster. The male refugee complied, as he managed to get over to the bed of the truck and dumped the sack onto it. The other male refugee struggled to carry the heavy supply bag by himself, causing him to collapse onto the ground from fatigue. The man in the black tank top then commanded the first male refugee to help the other get back up on his feet, with the armed man previously sitting on the drum having gotten up on his feet, watching him over.

As the first male refugee came over to help the other, the Spartans looked over to their right, before they glanced upon two men who were nearby the scene occurring. A man dressed in a dusty faint-green combat dress complete with a red beret and aviators, approached the other man in an orange tank top. As they began having their conversation in their home language, Davis could quickly spot who the man in the red beret was.

"I've got eyes on Kalenga."

Brooks communicated to the head operator. "Command, Spartan. We have contact on Kalenga."

"_Copy that, Spartan. Follow him to his H.Q., and keep it low profile. We don't want to scare him off." _The head operator continued, just as the warlord had finished his conversation and walked off to another path. _"If Kalenga doesn't lead you straight to those weapons, you might have to ask him some questions."_

"Roger that."

Davis, taking cover behind the wall of sandbags at the far right, peeked around and noticed an armed guard close by but with his back turned to him. Reaching out his combat knife again, he emerged off from his cover before he quickly lunged out and forcefully smothered the man's mouth with one hand. With the knife in the other hand, he slashed away at the man's neck, neatly severing his jugular in the process. The armed guard collapsed on his knees, before going down face-first, the blood pooling onto the sand from the deep cut around his neck. Thankfully for Davis, as he crouched down again, the kill was made out of Kalenga's sight as he continued strolling down the path from a short distance across.

Emerging away from the wall of sandbags, the team of four Spartans split off but remained within close distance from each other, as they made their way down the same path that Kalenga was going. Trailing him within a reasonable distance, they all stopped behind cover with Davis at the front of the pack, who was behind a skid of large burlap sacks.

Franco checked their surroundings. "Eyes on one rifleman by the lamppost in front."

Castle looked over from their six o'clock position. "Three hostiles behind us."

"What are they doing?"

"Keeping guard."

The team leader signalled to Davis at the front of the group. "Kalenga's passed by him. Coast is clear; take the kill."

Popping out of his cover, Davis fired a bullet from his rifle that pierced through the skull of the armed man standing by the lamppost, collapsing down to the ground in a few seconds.

"Target is down. Let's move!"

The squad of four stayed close to each other as they moved parallel of where the warlord was going. Passing by a tent, Davis and his squad took positions, as they saw Kalenga approaching another two armed men across the path. Davis, peeking out from a HESCO bastion, glanced at the warlord having a light conversation with the two men for only a few moments. He quickly returned back to cover behind the fortification, before sneaking another glance from around the corner. Only one of the armed guards walked away from the starting point of the intersecting path, while the other guard continued to walk down the road along with the warlord. Once Davis saw that there was enough distance between the two men going further down the path, and the guard walking away in the opposite direction, he tagged the guard dispersing with the attachment built into his rifle.

Castle quickly got into position and lined up his shot on the guard diverting away. As soon as the guard walked by a white S.U.V. nearby, Davis gave the command to open fire. The unaware guard was then struck by a bullet going through a window of the vehicle, before collapsing lifelessly. Once one of the guards were eliminated, the Spartans proceeded slowly, continuing to trail Kalenga and the one remaining rifleman strolling beside him. Not before long, the rifleman began to part ways with Kalenga, and headed into a confined space to his right that was lined full of tents around.

"Leung, keep following Kalenga," Brooks told the Spartan leading the way, before turning to the Spartan at the very back of the pack. "Franco, take care of the hostile to the right."

"Copy that, Chief."

As the three Spartans kept following the warlord down the path, Franco stealthily strafed into the confined space where the rifleman was. This was followed by the sound of a knife swiping through flesh, then the sound of the man choking on his own blood before falling down to the ground with a thud. Franco then caught up with the rest of the squad, who stopped dead as they could barely see a couple of armed men in the distance, heading towards the path of the warlord.

"Company's coming this way," Castle noted.

"I can't see him," Davis said. "Magnetics might help."

Once all the Spartans enabled the magnetic optics on their suits, they were able to notice through their visors, three thin outlines of the people ahead in the way. They also noticed two signatures of the rifles marked in white, held by both guards coming in the path of Kalenga and the Spartans behind.

"Everyone off the road," Brooks commanded his team. "Get to cover."

Knowing the obvious threats in front, the three Spartans diverted off to the left, before rounding to the right into another path and taking cover behind the side of a small, but long tent. Keeping their magnetic vision turned on, the four Spartans waited for the two guards to pass by. As soon as they did, the Spartans disabled their magnetic optics, while Davis peeked out from the left end of the side of the tent to survey where the warlord was going. With the distance between them and the warlord still being reasonable, the Spartans continued around the corner to their right, before Davis and Castle strafed towards another white S.U.V. and took cover behind it. Franco and Brooks took positions behind cover that was slightly behind and to the right of the S.U.V., before all of them watched after Kalenga.

In front of their view, one of Kalenga's men conversed with him for a few short moments, before another of his men came to talk to him. It appeared that after another few moments, Kalenga became frustrated, probably either at the progress his men were making, or at something else. He then received a call from his smartphone, answering it, but not before shoving one of his men to get back to what they were doing in the first place. The two armed men then distanced shortly away from him, as Kalenga kept on talking on his smartphone.

"How much longer?" Kalenga spoke in English, frustrated.

Brooks turned to the rest of his team, before they all moved. "All clear. Let's go."

"No, it doesn't matter," Kalenga continued on in his frustrated tone. "The money has been transferred. I can un-transfer it if I don't get what I want."

He paced around slowly with the smartphone still on his hand, while the two guards standing ahead of him looked around elsewhere.

"Yes. Yes, of course. I already told you that." He stopped, before responding to the contact on the phone. "Don't be stupid. My men are already waiting to unload the shipment. Just land the plane, and we'll take care of the rest."

Brooks communicated to the head operator. "Command. Sounds like the weapons are still inbound."

"_Understood, Spartan," _the head operator acknowledged. _"There's an airstrip nearby. We'll see if we can get some coverage."_

"What's the call on Kalenga?"

"_Take care of him now, so we don't have to come back to him later."_

"Roger that, Command."

Hiding behind stacks of metal crates filled with weapons and ammunition, Davis peeked out to find that there were three armed men around the area in front, other than Kalenga. One was on the roof of a building that was less than half a mile away, and there were the two men ahead of Kalenga, just before the building with the man on top of it. As Kalenga was just about finished with his call, Davis took the opportunity to pop out from his cover to tag the man on the roof, as well as the two men on the ground for his squad to line up the shots on.

"Kalenga's the fourth," Davis noted, training the red-dot sight of his rifle's scope at the back of the warlord's head.

"Line up your shots," Brooks commanded to Castle beside Davis, and Franco beside him. "Go swift on the Jackal, Leung."

"Got it."

Once Davis fired his suppressed assault rifle, the three other Spartans did at the same time. All four bullets met their mark, with Davis' bullet going through the back of Kalenga's skull, and the three others piercing through the bodies of the three armed men out in the near distance. All four collapsed down to the ground, lifeless as they were intended for. Once all were neutralized, the four Spartans began moving again, passing by Kalenga's body on the ground, before they made a left and into a path filled with wooden huts. They passed by a few wooden huts, before they stopped around the corner to the right, just before a stack of coloured crates nearby.

"Hold it," Brooks commanded his team again. "I see hostiles."

"Where?" Castle took up a different position.

"I see three, maybe four of them there."

Davis popped out from the corner past Brooks, who took cover at the far-left end of a hut, where he could confirm that there were four armed men ahead. Three were on the ground, while one was patrolling around on top of a building. Using the electronic tagging device built into the rifle, Davis tagged each hostile one-by-one, before training his sights on one of the men on the ground that was close to him.

"Ready on your shot," Franco hushed, as they all got into their suited positions.

Davis proceeded to pull the trigger on his suppressed weapon, before the three others fired right away. All four men collapsed down in a few seconds flat, but the noise of the bodies hitting the ground had attracted a few more armed men nearby. This alerted them towards the area, where they had found their lifeless bodies ridden with bullet holes. As soon as they discovered them, they began yelling and shouting in anger and confusion.

Brooks cursed. "Shit! They found the bodies!"

"Contact, dead ahead!" Castle screamed, as all of them rushed out into the open, engaging in yet another intense firefight against the men loyal to the now-slain warlord.

"Hostiles, 9'o clock!" Franco roared, as he shot down a gunman hiding around the corner of a stack of sandbags.

Davis followed suit, going by Castle as he shot at a gunman attempting to take cover behind a wall of tires and returning fire.

"I got him pinned!" Castle yelled at the rushing Davis.

Arming his assault rifle, Davis fired a few short bursts that pierced through the man's body as he fled behind the tire wall, before collapsing straight down and bleeding profusely to his death.

"Target down!"

Davis blew past the dying man behind the wall of tires, and found a path to the right that took him rounding to another right, while the other Spartans fought off the remaining gunmen around the perimeter. With his cloaking device automatically turned on, he took cover behind a white pickup truck, and scanned around for hostiles. He then heard bursts of gunfire coming from his rightward direction, as he then heard a man going down with a pained groan cut short.

"Hostile neutralized," Brooks confirmed over the radio, taking a few deep breaths. "Camp's secured."

Davis panted slightly, catching his breath, before he was rejoined by his other squad-mates. Going around the white truck, the squad of four stopped by a large tree, before they all crouched down being shortly past one of the refugee camp's entrances.

"Take a knee, gentlemen," Brooks commanded. "Check your gear."

As they surveyed the environment around them, before briefly inspecting their suits and remaining inventories they had carried, the head operator came on the communications.

"_I'm looking at satellite coverage of the airstrip," _the head operator reported._ "It looks like Kalenga's shipment has arrived, and they're already offloading supplies."_

As Franco and Brooks reloaded the ammunition on their weapons, Davis brought up an idea to the head operator.

"Sir, if we can get to the plane, we can pull its flight plan," Davis explained. "We'll see where it's been, and maybe where it's headed."

"Good call, Leung," Brooks added. "Command, Spartan's changing targets. We're gonna try to recover the data recorder off the plane itself."

A brief pause.

"_Understood, Spartan, I copy. You'll have to get moving," _the head operator warned. _"That storm's closing in. My bet is the crew's gonna try to get airborne before it hits."_

"Copy that."

"No disrespect, Chief," Castle told him, "but this doesn't seem like the kind of thing we'd want to hurry."

"Aw, come on, Castle," Franco replied. "Live a little."

Castle turned to him, as a transport truck driven by their allied contact came nearby to pick them up.

"I'd like to live a lot, Frankie," he sternly told him. "That's why I don't want to rush it."

"I don't like it any more than you do, Castle," Brooks insisted, "but we're not setting our own timetable."

"Understood," Castle calmly acknowledged.

All four of them then got off on their feet, before they boarded the truck, one-by-one.

"Here we go," Brooks climbed up first. "Aggressive, gentlemen. Not reckless. Let's go, Spartans!"

Castle turned to Davis, before Davis shrugged his shoulders lightly in response.

* * *

The sounds of propellers from a fixed-wing aircraft were fluttering in harmony over the skies, as a cloaked soldier in combat gear and a sniper rifle crouched by a tall tree stump on top of a hill, overlooking an aerodrome that consisted of two hangars with a runway that ran parallel to and ahead of the hangars. The man in the adaptive camouflage combat suit kept watching for any activity down at the airfield, until he directed his focus on a transport truck that drove down a road, going by the two hangars to its right. He then directed his sights at something that was occurring down at the runway.

"Got visual on the airstrip," Castle noted over the radio. "Looks like the plane's preppin' for takeoff."

Davis and the two other Spartans emerged out from another tall tree stump that stood across the tree stump where Castle was.

"Let's go make sure she doesn't," Brooks instructed the team. "Secure the airfield!"

The Spartans slowly made their way down the hill that led to the airfield, all of them with their internal cloaking devices automatically on. However, they stopped after several small paces only to notice a few gunmen that strolled down the same road that the transport truck was on.

"I've got eyes on two hostiles," Brooks spotted. "One with an assault rifle."

"Another one by a cargo truck," Castle added, moving to the next cover he could find.

At the same time the other three Spartans moved to potential firing positions, Davis began tagging the three armed men to the right of the second hangar. As soon as Brooks, Franco, and Castle saw the chevrons hovering above their heads, they began moving off again. This time, Castle moved off to the right of where Davis was positioned, and Franco and Brooks took cover behind a large, rounded stone to the left of Davis.

"Ready on your go," Castle told Davis, as he lined up the sight of his sniper rifle on the head of the man in between a large tree and the cargo truck.

Davis quickly shuffled his feet towards a large rock a few paces ahead and to the right of Franco and Brooks, who were behind the rounded stone. He then inched slightly more to his front-left, before he waited for the two men to get further from the man beside the truck. At last, he gave to signal to fire, in which the three Spartans behind him began pulling their triggers at the same time. At once, the two armed men passing by the second hangar had immediately collapsed from the bullets whizzing past their bodies, while the man beside the cargo truck off to the right had his skull blown clean off from the sniper round.

"Clear to advance," Brooks told his squad.

The Spartans regrouped and slowly continued their way down the hill, before they stopped just shy of entering the airfield.

"Hold your positions, I see another two hostiles," Brooks observed. "Right beside the left hangar."

"Doing what?" Franco asked.

"Smoking."

Davis tagged the two armed men guarding the perimeter in between the two hangars. However, he surveyed to the left with the scope of his rifle, only to find that there was another man armed with a personal defence rifle that was guarding the front entrance of the first hangar. He then surveyed around to the right with the scope, just to find that there was a man on a walkway that was situated above and slightly ahead of the two men in between the hangars. There were also more men guarding ahead of the walkway, as Davis could observe their movements well ahead of the walkway. Without wasting any more time, he trained his sights on the man who was on the walkway, coming from the right. He took a deep breath, before firing, the bullet going through the abdomen of the guard. The guard collapsed chest-first, with the two men below not realizing what had happened above them.

"Target neutralized."

Davis gave a sigh of relief, before he tagged the armed man guarding the front entrance of the first hangar. The three other Spartans behind him moved positions again, with all three lining up their shots on their targets.

"Fire when ready."

He gave the signal to the other Spartans to fire, in which they did. The two men who were in between the hangars, were now on the ground, pools of blood forming around their bodies. Likewise, the man guarding the hangar collapsed on his back with a large bullet hole through his right torso. The Spartans began to move ahead, entering the airfield, knowing that time was scarce.

"Keep pushing," Brooks ordered his squad, "that plane is not going to wait around for long!"

The Spartans made their way across the road, and approached the walkway in between the hangars. Davis slowed to a stop, as he saw that there were two watchtowers, with one of them closer in his view and ahead of the walkway to the left. He looked down to the right, before spotting a gunman on the ground coming off from the second hangar. Using the built-in tagging device, he quickly tagged the armed man on the ground, for Castle to move positions. Castle moved up the stairs that were to the left of the first hangar, leading the way up to the wooden walkway, where he tracked the man's movements. Davis quickly lined up his aim at an enemy sniper that was monitoring from that tower, and squeezed the trigger. The single-burst fire from his rifle managed to take the sniper by surprise, going down without alerting anyone within the vicinity.

"Kill confirmed," Castle spoke under his breath, before taking a quick peek at the tower to his far right. "Light-machine gunner. In that tower."

Before he could move further, Davis saw another armed man on the ground with a semi-automatic rifle. He tagged him for Franco to fire on. Davis and Franco moved off from each other, with Davis climbing up the stairs leading to the walkway, before stopping on the landing at the top of the stairs. Behind Castle—who was at the far-left of the walkway—and Franco—who was now at the far-right of the walkway—Davis used the scope of his rifle to find the man monitoring from the tower at the far-right.

"On your word," Castle prepared him.

"Standing by." Franco did likewise.

Davis then pulled the trigger on his rifle. "Do it!"

Simultaneously, all three men who were tagged had now collapsed with the bullets going through them. However, a few other Kalenga loyalists on the ground had spotted one of their men going down nearby, and started shouting in their home language. They rushed over to the white twin-engine aircraft parked at the end of the runway ahead of the first hangar, which was now ready to fly.

"Engage, engage!" Brooks screamed, as he rushed to where the other three Spartans were.

Davis rushed over to the walkway leading into the first hangar, only to find the aircraft already moving.

"Plane's starting to roll!" He shouted over to the other Spartans on the bridging walkway.

Castle fired at the remaining armed men on the ground. "Chief! What's the call?!"

"Bring it down!" Brooks quickly pointed at the right propeller of the plane exposed in front of them. "Focus fire on the engine!"

Rushing back, Davis immediately tagged the propeller of the airplane, as all four of them shot at the engine of the moving air vehicle. Several bullet rounds had pierced through the engine, causing thick black smoke to pour from the aircraft as it tried to make its ascent. Davis followed the aircraft on the walkway, continuously firing more rounds at it before he could no longer make out the plane, as he stopped at the connected walkway in the second hangar. Davis panted heavily, as he saw the plane disappear from the last vantage point of the final window of the structure.

"Damn it!" He cursed. "We lost them."

"Nope, she's got trouble!" Franco noted. "She's goin' down!"

Davis juked around, and followed his team, as they made their way down the stairs from the walkway.

Franco followed the smoke trails the plane had left. "It's gonna splash behind the camp!"

"Then we'd better get there fast!" Brooks responded.

"How much time we got before that storm hits?" Davis asked.

"Not enough."

The Spartans rushed to where the plane had crash-landed, just as thick clouds of shady-brown dust were kicked up by the winds that were now at their strongest. The skies were no longer bright blue, as they were now obscured by ominous shades of brown and beige all over, the sun being covered by the thick blankets of dust which were now blowing towards the direction of the Spartans. Withstanding the light clouds of dust that came their way, they found the smouldering wreckage of the plane, which was about 300 metres away from where they were. As they got closer, they began spotting a white pickup truck coming off from their 3 o'clock position, which got closer and closer towards them. It was an enemy technical.

"Moving to cover!"

The mounted gunner on the truck began firing at the Spartans moving out of the way. They took cover behind what appeared to be scrapped-metal of a station wagon, before they exchanged back fire at the truck that careened to a stop. Three gunmen barged out of the vehicle, firing several rounds at the scrapped-out station wagon, with the mounted gunner adding heavy suppressive fire at them. Brooks and Franco got out of cover to return fire again, followed by Davis firing blindly at the armed men from his cover. He then reached for a grenade from his belt, before pulling the pin and tossing it at the direction of the truck. It landed underneath the truck's fuel compartment.

At the same time the truck exploded in a blazing fireball, consuming all four men in its proximity, the Spartans felt a series of huge wind gusts passing by them. They peeked out from their cover to find themselves about to be blinded by the heavier clouds of dust in shades of brown and tan all over.

"Here it comes!" Brooks shouted. "Get ready!"

"This is gonna fuckin' suck," Castle remarked.

As the walls of thick brown dust and heavy winds arrived, all four of the Spartans turned on their magnetic optics in an attempt to see where they were going. They proceeded on foot once more, emerging away from the cover that they had taken.

"Stay tight!" Brooks commanded. "We don't want to get separated out there!"

Passing by the flaming remnants of the hostile truck, the Spartans braved the intense gusty winds and blinding clouds of dust that came their way, slowly making their way towards the crash site of the plane. Continuing their way towards the crash site, they heard the head operator attempting to make contact with them over the radio communications.

"_Spartan—*bzzt*—tracking hostiles—*bzzt*—your E.T.A.?"_

"Command, Spartan!" Brooks replied loudly. "Say again!"

What Brooks received again were multiple crackles of static, followed by the head operator's words that were barely comprehensive to the team leader, before closing out with more static.

"…_Hostiles inbound…"_

"Command, you're unreadable! Say again!"

"…_Cutting commo—*bzzt*—clear of—*bzzt*—out."_

Those were the only comprehensible pieces that the head operator had transmitted, before ending by itself. Brooks moved his fingers off from the part of the helmet covering his right temple, then turning to his squad.

"Guess we're on our own for now! Keep it tight, and let's move to the crash location!"

The winds continued to gust even further in the dust storm, almost knocking Davis off balance, as he peered through the scope of his rifle.

Davis managed to get himself back on his feet before remarking, "Not sure this could get any worse!"

On the way to the camp, the Spartans encountered what appeared to be a pickup truck set ablaze in the midst of the blowing winds and dust. There were also burning debris sparsely situated on the ground, illuminated in white through the magnetic optics on their visors. However, Davis could make out what appeared to be white outlines of weaponry in the far distance, through the magnetic optics on his visor. They were visible to him for quite a short time, before they faded out to his far-left.

"Stay sharp!" Brooks commanded. "We gotta head back to the camp, and it's all stirred up!"

Franco frowned. "Why can't they crash someplace friendly for a change?"

Castle sneered. "Maybe next time."

"Better not _be_ a next time!"

The Spartans kept advancing towards the camp, where the crash site was ahead of it. As they approached an entrance of the refugee camp, they noticed a few pairs of headlights coming off in the far distance from their far-right, getting closer and closer. Knowing that the headlights represented the potential hostile threats they had already encountered, the Spartans immediately found cover behind a parked armoured 4WD to their left, just across from the entrance of the camp. Their camouflage activated, the squad of four looked around, before they positioned themselves out of sight again. An enemy technical moved down the road with a transport truck trailing behind, passing by the parked vehicle off the road.

After the vehicles had passed, the Spartans rushed across the road, and made their way to the entrance of the camp. Brooks advanced past Davis to take a position behind a wooden to fence to the left of the young soldier. Castle also advanced past him, to take a position behind a wall of sandbags to Davis' right and ahead of the team leader.

Castle peeked out to survey the area. "I see two hostiles to the left, two in front."

Davis, crouched beside brooks, could make out one of the hostile men ahead of Castle. He was right by a transport truck. Davis moved slightly to the right, and found that there were a couple more hostiles that Castle spotted. Apart from the mounted gunner on a technical and the driver standing by, he could also spot an armed man on top of a building to their left, and another man on the ground further to that direction. Davis moved quickly to switch positions with Castle, while Castle moved off to join Brooks, who was now behind the building to the left. He began tagging the driver of the technical first, before also tagging the man on the roof, and the man on the ground to the far-left.

Before he gave the command to fire, Davis quickly fired a few suppressed rounds at the exposed mounted gunner, silencing him without alarming the driver and the other couple of men nearby. He then gave the rest of his squad the command to fire once they were all in position. The three men that were electronically tagged had all fell at the same time from the bullets that went through them. Davis then proceeded to fire a few short bursts at an armed man in front, who had stopped after pacing back and forth in the path lined with tents.

"Hostile down."

Davis then tagged the man by the transport truck, only for Brooks to take position and fire from the distance. The man went down without much of a sound.

Vaulting over the wall of sandbags before taking cover behind a stack of metal crates and off, Davis rejoined with his squad, enduring the howling winds and dust being kicked up in front of them. They passed by the technical, before they stopped just a few paces past the tents that lined the path. Through the magnetic optics, Davis could notice just two gunmen through the tents to the left. He tagged the two hostiles for Castle and Brooks to position themselves, before giving the command to fire. They did, as he saw the men collapse down with their rifles tossed off to the ground.

As they continued down the path and around to the right, it was still difficult for the Spartans to see clearly with the dust still blowing through. However, it wasn't as difficult to tell between who and who isn't a threat to them. A few stranded civilians made their way past the Spartans, trying to fend themselves off from the blowing winds and dusty conditions. Another wind gust kicked up, causing a vulnerable wooden structure to turn into shambles within a few seconds. The Spartans went around what remained of the wooden structure, before they dispersed. Davis followed the team leader, before they separated and went in paths parallel to each other.

Shouts were heard not a long distance away, as Davis followed his own path that led to a dead end, before he saw a couple of armed men through the tents. They were on the oncoming direction of the Spartans, but they were blinded by the blowing dust that some of it had landed on their eyes. Davis tagged both of them for Brooks and Franco nearby to take the shots. The two armed men collapsed on their stomachs as they were taken by surprise. Davis emerged out from the dead end, before making his way straight past the intersecting path that Brooks had taken, and cornered around to the right. Staying to the left side of the path all the way before the intersecting path cutting off, Davis checked the corner to the left.

He saw two armed men to his 9 o'clock position, one of them visible through the tents, and the other just several paces past around the corner and slightly ahead of a HESCO bastion to the right. Repeating the process again, Davis tagged the man through the tents for Brooks to position and line up his shot. Peeking around the corner, Davis aimed at the man exposed and fired a few bursts from the hip. Brooks fired at the same time, with both armed men down instantly. Strafing around the corner to the left, Davis slowly continued down the path, before he saw another hostile gunman coming from the right. He took cover behind the HESCO bastion that was at the right. Popping out from the cover, Davis brought out his rifle and waited until the gunman exposed himself blindly coming from the right. He fired a few bursts, taking down the armed man with lethal force.

Vaulting over the fortification, Davis entered the path where the slain gunman had come from, passing by a parked S.U.V. whilst hugging the wooden fences to the left of the path. He stopped by a metal crate full of ammunition, helping himself to the copious amounts of fresh magazines well-suited for his current weaponry. Franco came by from another different path, joining him, as he took cover in front of Davis. The Spartan in front of him peeked around the corner.

"I've spotted two more, straight ahead."

Moving a few more paces, Davis tagged the two men through the tents and metal fencing, for Franco and Castle to take the shots. Once the two armed men were about to enter the intersecting paths, Davis quickly gave the command to fire. Both men went down with bullets past their torsos. Rounding another corner to the left, Davis followed Franco, as he could see past a scrapped-out pickup truck, more armed men of the slain Kalenga at the area in front. One man was standing by a stack of large burlap sacks to his right, with his back turned to the Spartans. Another was ahead to the right of the man, near a few oil drums. Two more men were within the area, with one near a single-storey building to their left, and the other inside the building and right by an armour-plated mounted machine-gun aimed at them.

Davis popped out from the torn-down truck and tagged the man beside the large burlap sacks first, then the man near the building, followed with the man inside the building, before aiming his sights on the man past the oil drums.

"Ready on your shot," Brooks told him, lining up his sights.

His finger was already on the trigger of the rifle.

"Fire, fire!"

In no more than a few seconds, all the men that were tagged had fell from the suppressed fire of the bullets past them. Another two armed men near the area had fended themselves from the blowing dust with their arms extended out, covering their faces. However, they began noticing that their few comrades had just fallen, as they rushed towards one of their bodies. Before they even noticed what had happened, they were caught by several bursts of rifle rounds that pierced through them. Both of them went down right away, as the Spartans emerged off from the truck and past them, as they bled profusely to their dying ends.

Passing by the building with the mounted machine gun to their right, the ZAFT Specters rushed straight and past the camp, before they regrouped in front of a wide, open area. At that point, the winds had died down with each passing minute, and the thick clouds of dust had settled and dispersed away. Looking at the surrounding area in front, before at the skies, Davis turned off the magnetic optics that were displayed through his visor. The others followed.

The head operator transmitted over the radio, crystal-clear. _"Spartan, be advised. Hostiles have moved in on the crash site. Watch your step."_

"Copy." Brooks saw a cargo truck speeding down towards the crash site from his far-right. "We'll take care of it."

With not enough time to spare, the Spartans had rushed forward to the remains of the aircraft, with the hope that the remnants of Kalenga's men hadn't arrived first. As they were now 100 metres away from the burning wreckage of the plane, the Spartans slowed for a bit before catching sight of the crashed plane.

"Enemy isn't here in force yet," noted Davis.

"It's gonna be fuckin' tough to secure the site once they are," remarked Castle.

Brooks aimed at the two thugs by the cargo truck to the left of the burning wreckage. "Take 'em!"

As the Spartans took aim at the two men by the truck, another armed man spotted them coming down the hill and shouted at the others surrounding the crash site. They scrambled from their positions and began firing at the rushing Specters.

"They spotted us!" Castle screamed.

"Straight ahead!" Brooks shouted.

Both men by the truck went down as several bullet rounds directed at them had struck their heads and through their bodies. More gunfire was exchanged, as a few stray rounds coming from the remaining hostiles had bounced off of the shoulder areas of the titanium alloy covering Davis' upper body. Withstanding the impact of the bullets, Davis continued to advance further, firing at an armed man trying to take cover behind the cargo truck. As the man collapsed down face-first from the bullets shredding through him, Davis quickly took cover behind a large stone, before peeking out to the left.

Brooks continued firing. "Suppressing!"

Davis aimed down his sights on an armed man taking cover behind a few rocks, already exposed. He fired a few short bursts, taking him down. Rushing out from the large stone, Davis advanced towards the crash site, before he heard a man behind him to the left shouting in the same home language. He spun around and fired at the final man who remained by the cargo truck, before the man could even pull the trigger on him first.

"Target down," Davis breathed heavily.

"We're clear!" Brooks joined him by the crash site.

All four of the squad regrouped, dead center on the area where the plane had crashed. As the few, but sparse fires continued to blaze all over the remains of the aircraft, Brooks communicated to the head operator.

"Command, Spartan. We've reached the crash site."

"_Command copies," _the head operator responded. _"Our men are inbound to set up a perimeter, but you've got hostiles closing fast. You'll have to hold the position."_

"Copy."

The group of four then began what would be the long wait before backup could arrive. Davis turned around to face the direction of where the cargo truck was, spectating the sight of the blowing clouds of dust in the distance. Not before long, he could see something emerge from the thick clouds of dust that blew in the far distance. It wasn't until he could recognize the shape of shady object coming closer would be a white technical coming out of the dust.

Franco's eyes widened, as Davis crouched under the impact crater that the plane had left. "Here they come…"

"Stay low and watch each other!" Brooks shouted, as the mounter gunner on the truck began firing at them.

"12 O'CLOCK!"

"LIGHT VEHICLE!"

"MOVING!"

The Spartans fired at the truck that swerved to a stop, with Davis firing and taking out the mounted gunner, as well as an armed thug that bailed out from the passenger-side door. The driver had also bailed out, firing his personal defence rifle from behind the truck, before he too, was clipped down by the bullets passing through his skull. Davis got back up onto his feet, only to find another cargo truck coming their way from the blowing dust.

"We've got a hostile truck!" Brooks blared out, as his team fired at the truck stopping.

More of Kalenga's men came from everywhere in the direction that the Spartans were facing. Some of them came from their left, others coming from the right, and a few more coming out of the stopped truck. Castle focused the sights on his sniper rifle at a few enemies behind a large rock, while Franco fired several burst rounds at a couple of men scrambling off to the right. Davis shot at the men that emerged from the cargo truck they were in, picking off one of them in his focused fire. An armed thug clad in a brown tank top had his skull blown apart by one of Castle's shots from the perimeter.

"Reloading!" Davis replaced the used-up magazine on his rifle with a new one, as more shots were exchanged between the two groups.

"Suppressing fire!" Brooks continuously shot at the few remaining armed thugs, giving a slight opportunity for the other Spartans to take advantage of.

"Rifleman!" One of the Spartans shouted.

"Dead ahead!" Another bellowed out.

Davis fired more several bursts from his rifle, taking down another two men surrounding the area. "Hostile down!"

"They're reeling!" Castle yelled. "Let's fuckin' get it done!"

Davis could see an armed man taking cover behind one of the cargo trucks. He aimed down his sights and shot at his knees, as the man went down screaming before succumbing to his wounds.

Castle spotted another technical heading their way, through the scope of his sniper rifle.

"More of 'em inbound!"

"Focus on the gunners!" Brooks shouted, as the technical blew past the dust with its mounted gunner firing at the dodging Spartans.

"Daylight raid!" Franco snidely remarked. "Great idea!"

The technical veered to its right, getting close to the crash site, but had its mounted gunner exposed for Davis to fire at. The mounted gunner on the truck fell off the bed, rolling over a few times before his bullet-ridden body settled on the hot, sandy terrain.

"Keep it together, Spartans!" Brooks encouraged them loudly. "Fast-response team will be here any second!"

"More hostiles to our left!" Castle shouted, as they moved into new positions.

The Spartans took cover behind the standing debris of the airplane, as they focused in on the hostile riflemen coming from their leftward. Davis, behind an ammunitions crate, popped out of his cover to fire on the armed thugs that approached the front of the plane. A few of the thugs went down as they were picked off by Castle, while Brooks took cover behind a piece of the landing gear and fired more shots at the men taking cover behind the rocks. A hostile sniper fired a few shots at Davis, with the bullets ricocheting off of the metallic crate that the Spartan was taking cover behind. Davis immediately popped out from his cover, steadied the aim through his scope, and fired a single-shot round that went past the head of the hostile sniper.

"Where the hell are they all coming from?!" Castle screamed, as he continued to return fire at the men rushing from left and right.

Brooks communicated to the head operator in a frantic tone. "Command, where's our backup?"

"It's getting serious, Chief!" Franco shouted, before focusing back on the hostile men approaching in front.

The head operator finally responded. _"They're on site, Spartan!"_

Just on cue, the Spartans heard faint whirring noises of propellers coming behind from their left. As the mounted gunners on the pickup trucks fired down at the Spartans behind the cover, and with a few armed riflemen firing from behind the rocks facing their previous 6 o'clock position, they were all met by incoming bullet rounds fired from the air.

"About damn time!" Franco shouted, as he saw two helicopters coming from their left.

"Keep firing on them!" Brooks roared out.

Davis rushed out of his cover, before he fired down on a mounted gunner of a truck, killing him. Brooks, Franco, and Castle began taking down each and every last one of Kalenga's men, with the ZAFT soldiers manning the mounted guns aboard the helicopters assisting them. Some of the armed thugs were mowed down by the mounted gunners aboard the helicopters. A bullet-ridden technical flipped over, end-over-end, before it landed on its wheels and exploded, vaporizing the occupants in the vehicle. Davis vaulted over a downed tree, before he took aim and fired at the last remaining men who were behind the rocks. The few unsuspected men had all went down, as the rest of the team got out of the crash site, and surveyed the area around them.

"Command," Brooks breathed out. "Site's secure!"

"_Well done, team." _The head operator replied. _"Our men will take over, and secure the aircraft's black box. Let's get you back out of there."_

"Yeah, roger that," Brooks acknowledged, as he saw the helicopters making their descent.

* * *

**February 9, C.E. 93  
****PLANT Supreme Council, Aprilius One, Lagrange 5  
****1630 Hours**

A male figure approached a set of large, metallic doors after coming down a hallway. He raised his arm to knock gently on the doors three times, before noticing a security camera above the twin doors. An intercom system beside the doors to the right began emitting out a feminine voice in a pleasant tone from the speakers.

"_This is Chairwoman Lacus Clyne speaking. May I ask who is behind the door, please?"_

The man, dressed in the white ZAFT uniform with gold markings on the black sections, pushed two fingers down on the red button below the speaker of the intercom.

"Commander Kira Yamato, requesting access."

He lifted his fingers off the button, before he heard a loud buzz coming from the speaker of the intercom. The pneumatic metal doors automatically slid open with a hissing noise, before the brunette male stepped past the doors and into the space that was the Chairwoman's office.

Inside the office, a pink-haired woman was behind a rounded desk, peering through many documents and sifting through a pile of them in between. The brunette man took a few steps forward, before he stopped and cleared his throat. The pink-haired woman immediately took notice of the noise, looking away from the stack of papers and at the brunette male standing before her eyes. Her expression turned to surprise and ecstatic joy upon meeting him.

"Kira!" She excitedly responded as she got herself off from the chair and out of the desk.

The purple-eyed commander could only give out a warm smile. "Lacus…"

She took a few strides towards him, before they embraced each other, their arms wrapped around each other in the hug they shared. They slowly pulled away from each other, before Kira leaned in to kiss her on the lips. Lacus blushed slightly at his kiss, before she returned it. They pulled away from each other again.

"Lacus," Kira reminded, "I think it's time we go."

The former songstress nodded her head, as she followed him out the doors and away from the office.

Two hours later, the couple were at Armory One, where they were inside a spaceport. They watched before a clear, glass window, the sun setting before the shadowy figures of shuttles and other aircraft amid peachy-purplish skies. The brunette commander stared beyond the window quietly, before he turned to Lacus. As his eyes focused on her, he marvelled at the fact that despite having a couple of decades passing by, she had retained a bit of her youthful appearance physically. Her facial features and body proportions were similar to what an adult woman would have, including a slender neck and legs that were toned and more shapely. The shape of her body suggested to him that she was closer to an hourglass shape, but he didn't mind the increased bust size along with those curvier hips.

He then paid attention towards what seemed to be a wearily look of sadness on her face. His eyes widened a bit as he took notice. He thought back to the times when they were the ones caught in the midst of the conflicts between two genetic races that had forever changed the lives of many people. It was especially harrowing, when he saw how much horror the wars had brought before his eyes back then. It had pained him as well, to see many people perish by the terrors that the factions responsible had wrought upon during those two wars. He had lost a few friends, people he had truly cared for, when he was the one thrown into the midst of the chaos going on. At the same time, however, he had asked himself if he was also the one to be accounted for what had happened after the conflicts that had ensued.

Not knowing the answers that would have brought him spiralling down into the consuming darkness, a few people had entered his life and there was a light at the end of the tunnel for him. It was especially when Lacus Clyne, the pink-haired songstress and daughter of the former chairman of the PLANT Supreme Council, had made quite a difference in his whole life. She stood by his side, having taken care of him when he was wounded after the incident where the Archangel was on its way to Alaska, during the First Bloody Valentine War. They grew closer and closer in their unremitting relationship, and by the time the Second Bloody Valentine War had ended, their relationship had strengthened even further than what it was before she had first met Kira. He had known her for so long, having officially been wedded with her almost two decades ago. He knew how much hardships she went through during those two decades, the loss of her father having highlighted one of those hardships she endured. Another one would be what had happened after she had taken control of the PLANT Supreme Council, and the one that forced the end of her control. It was probably events like those that were probably making her sad right now, he thought.

Kira turned away from Lacus after he had focused on her for so long, focusing back on the sight beyond the window before looking down, deep in thought again.

"…Kira?"

His train of thought broke away, as he turned to her again, staring at her beautiful porcelain skin that shone from the setting rays of the sun.

He answered gently. "Yes, Lacus?"

She hesitated slightly for a moment, before she continued. "Do…do you have this feeling inside of you?"

His facial expression turned stoic. "What feeling?"

A long pause, before she answered hesitantly. "This…feeling. The feeling of regret."

He noticed her getting anxious from answering him, her body trembled ever so slightly.

"What…what do you mean by that, Lacus?"

She gave out a deep sigh that was audible to him, before she faced him. "I don't know, Kira," she explained. "I was thinking about what I had done to make it possible. Preserving the peace between both the Naturals and the Coordinators, and…ensuring that no more wars would happen in the process."

Kira could only give a gentle nod.

"But now that I have thought about what and how I did to end all of this…it appears to me, that to end the violence that marked those conflicts in particular, violence itself had to be used," she continued, measuring her pauses anxiously. "I'm starting to regret my role as the Chairwoman because of this. I don't know if I deserve to lead after what I did to end all of this…bloodshed and violence."

He then frowned and suddenly shook his head in disagreement. "No."

"But…"

"No, Lacus."

She was slightly shocked, her mouth parted open in her reaction. "K-Kira?"

"How?" He finally responded in his words. "How can you say that, Lacus?"

The pink-haired woman stood still disconcertedly, continuing to face him.

"You _do _deserve to be Chairwoman, Lacus," Kira insisted passionately. "The people depend on you for your wisdom and charismatic qualities. Not just the people of the colonies, but the people who also live on the Earth, too. Everyone. They all look up to you, because you have showed in the past that you can lead well enough!"

"But that's not true!" She objected. "After what happened that forced me to resign! Do you actually think that I still deserved to lead on such a nation as it is, Kira?"

Kira himself hesitated for a moment, before he calmly spoke again. "Lacus, despite what happened, you've still contributed far more to make the world around us a much better place, than what it was in the past." He smiled thinly. "After what you did before you stepped down, it contributed greatly than what you had hoped for."

Lacus nodded, the wearily saddened look on her face still remaining.

"Blue Cosmos is no more. Neither all the other extremists out there," Kira pointed out. "Because of that, all the people out there have decided to give you another chance to lead, Lacus."

She shifted her eyes, her voice at its softest. "Do you really think so, Kira?"

"Yes, Lacus, I'm sure," he sighed. "Besides, I'm sure you're reminded of what motivated you to take the leadership again."

Lacus gasped. "…Our son."

Kira nodded, before he grimaced. "Especially what happened at the elementary school a long time ago."

She gasped again, this time in shock and horror, remembering what had happened on that fateful day. "Oh my God, Kira. You aren't…"

Kira nodded. "24 children, Lacus," he dreaded with a tone of disgust. "All of their lives taken away by cold-hearted men who had only wanted revenge, not peace."

Her widely-opened eyes glassed as she spoke. "December Four."

"Luckily, he wasn't one of them," Kira spoke forlornly. "I don't want to lose him, Lacus. I don't want to lose our son."

"Ki…Kira…."

"I've already lost a few close friends in my life, Lacus." He looked down, dejectedly. "I've already lost a woman who I had truly cared and loved about. I don't want to lose you, either."

Before he knew it, a couple of feminine arms wrapped around him tightly, as he felt Lacus hug him that was even more embracing than before. He felt her shiver and quiver a bit, as she sobbed quietly.

"Oh my God, Kira!" She sniffed.

Kira helped to bring her down a bit and comforted her as tenderly as he did before.

"It's alright, Lacus," Kira hushed up. "It's alright."

"Oh, Kira!" She exclaimed. "Why?"

"It's over, Lacus," he assured her soothingly. "It's all in the past. You're alright."

They pulled away from each other, on their feet, just before they heard the sound of a shuttle descending from the skies. They turned to the window again, watching the shuttle coming down closer and closer to the tarmac of the runway. As it had finally landed, the couple turned to each other.

"That's him," Kira told her.

"Yes it is, Kira," Lacus agreed. "Our son."

They both walked off, before they found themselves outside the spaceport, and on the grounds where the shuttles were at. They awaited, as the shuttle that had just landed taxied its way from the right, before it slowed down to a complete stop in front of the couple. The couple walked towards where the passenger door was, as a mobile staircase was moved in by personnel and in position under the door. Kira and Lacus waited anxiously before the shuttle, as the door began to slowly swing open. Once the door fully swung open, the facial expressions of the couple turned to true smiles, as they saw a male figure emerge from the door, two shoes planted firmly on the top step of the mobile staircase.

_**To be continued in PHASE-04: "Silent Guardians".**_

* * *

**NEW TECHNOLOGY  
**_**Fortified Combat Suits/REFLEX Suits (ZAFT)  
**_**FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS**

**IRIS-COM – I**ntegrated **R**elayed **I**nformation **S**ystems-**COM**municator. Similar to the Cross Com used in the recent Ghost Recon games, it is linked to the reticule of either eye, and provides real-time information on the battlefield with the utilisation of augmented reality (AR) elements and a more comprehensive heads-up display (HUD). Additional features include:

***Varying Optics** – Three types of optics are used other than the normal type of vision: thermal optics are used to detect heat signatures off from human bodies and other objects, magnetic optics are used to detect metal from guns and other weapons, and night optics are used for operations held during nighttime.

***Digital Zoom – **Magnification of 20x will help identify objects in the far distance.

***3D Target Marking – **The ability to spot and mark visible targets with visible markers to help track their movements.

***Network Dependent/Independent – **The ability to receive real-time intelligence updates live on the spot when connected to the ZAFT network, as well as being able to receive synchronized data from any weapon or equipment instantly. When offline, certain features can be accessed (special optics and digital zoom, for example).

**Lightweight Titanium-alloy Armour – **Covers the upper-body areas of the suit, including shoulders and the chest.

**Chameleon Camouflage System – **A prototype adaptive camouflage system that renders the wearer of the suit virtually invisible to others, even up close. Uses architecture that involves major processing power and optic fibers, micro-LED strands, and meta-materials that can bend light. Disadvantages include being visible from moving too fast or firing from a weapon.

**Aerodynamic Boots – **Crafted with special materials and manufactured using a unique process, the boots add more mobility and maneuverability to the wearer, especially travelling long distances on foot.

* * *

**And that's it for this chapter! After taking a look at how much I had written for this chapter, I believed that I had broken my record for the longest chapter I have ever written for a fanfiction. Ironically, it was the chapter before this one that took the record for the longest ever written! All laughs aside, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. **

**A couple of things to discuss about this chapter. First off, the mission that ZAFT Specter Team "Spartan" undertook in this chapter, was based off of the "Subtle Arrow" mission in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. I've stated before in the previous chapters, that most of the missions Team Spartan will undertake, would be based off of the missions of the single-player campaign in that game. So, if anyone asks, **_**yes—**_**one of the direct influences for this fanfic, would be the video game from Ubisoft. No surprises there.**

**Another direct influence for this fanfic, would be a fanfiction that I had actually read before. Before I had even began writing on **_**Reflex**_**, I read up **_**Gundam SEED Destiny: Renegade **_**by Rhapsidiast a year ago. I was really quite amazed by how the author managed to bring the story to life, what with how the characters were handled, along with the conflicts and the action that ensued. I even liked how the author explained the technologies and mobile suits creatively, using end-notes at the end of the chapters. It's still here on this site, if you want to go check it out.**

**Now, about the whole thing with the "Advanced SEED" factor/mode that I had previously discussed in the end-notes of the last chapter, I didn't really explain a whole lot about it. However, I will briefly explain what the Advanced SEED factor/mode is all about:**

_**Advanced SEED **_**(or **_**SEED+**_**) **_**factor**_**, is an ongoing theory that supplements the original SEED factor. Much like the original SEED theory, however, it is controversial and is unproven, and the acceptance of the new theory is also limited. Compared to the original SEED factor, the Advanced SEED only applies to the latest generations of Coordinators and Naturals (specifically, those who are born between the early-C.E. 60s and the late-C.E. 70s). **

_**Advanced SEED (SEED+) mode, **_**on the other hand, differs from the original SEED mode very significantly. In comparison to the original SEED mode, Advanced SEED gives an individual abilities and enhancements so severe enough that they can manipulate certain elements around them (time and space, for example). An example of such ability, would be the ability to slow down time and motion, as in the case of Davis from the second chapter. However, the lasting effects of the Advanced SEED mode are significantly shorter than with the original SEED mode. **

**I will have more explanations for this feature in particular, in the future chapters ahead. For now, stay tuned for more!**


	8. PHASE-04: Silent Guardians

**Author's Note: **Hello, and what's happening? After I pushed out the previous chapter a bit over a week ago, I decided to write out another new chapter…which is this one you're on right now! I got nothing much to say, other than the fact that this chapter will be more action-packed, just like the previous chapters in the story. There will be no major character introductions in this one, but there will be in the future chapters ahead. Other than that, enjoy the fourth chapter!

* * *

**Voltage Axe Presents**

_**Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Reflex**_

**PHASE-04: Silent Guardians**

* * *

**February 9, C.E. 93  
****Gulf of Guinea, Eternal-class ship **_**Polemos  
**_**2150 Hours**

"_Buffalo soldier, dreadlock rasta…"_

"Fightin' on arrival...fightin' for survival," a deep male voice sung along the lyrics. "Driven from the mainland…to the heart of the Caribbean…"

The sounds of a helicopter's propeller blades whirred in the background, just as the team leader of the Spartans parted open his eyes and saw the Eternal-class support ship down over the ocean, from the open doorway of the chopper.

"There she is," Brooks remarked as he removed an earpiece of his headphones. "Home away from home."

"I love the crew down there…I do!" Franco sneered. "Except for all those damned sailors."

"No problem, Frankie," explained the female pilot of the helicopter, "'cause we're not stayin'. Commander just pinged me. Someone's got trouble."

As the chopper made its descent onto the exposed dock of the support ship, the powerful lights around the walls of the ship above the open dock had encompassed the sight of nearly all the Spartans on board the aircraft. Davis turned away from the blinding rays of light as they slowly passed by downward and remained silent, his thoughts still focused on what had happened during the mission in Colombia, trying to make sense of the events in chronological order. Before he went on with his thoughts, he heard a few males shouting from below, breaking away his train of thought.

Sitting beside Brooks to his left, Davis turned to his left again, only to find that the chopper was hovering over a couple of inches above the ground. In front of his eyes, a couple of male ZAFT personnel on the dock were retrieving a metal crate from a few of them lying on the pavement of the dock. Brooks also watched, before he turned to Davis and joked for a bit.

"Didn't even touch down, and we already have a job."

One of the ZAFT personnel on the dock had lifted the metal crate. He loaded it onto the helicopter, where it situated between the sitting Spartans on both sides of the aircraft.

Davis got up for a bit and stretched. "Support got our gear?" He asked, before relaxing back down on his seat.

"Ready and waiting," the female helicopter pilot answered. "Mission details are comin' in on your PTD now."

As the helicopter rotors continued to spin, Castle reached out for his ruggedized tablet device, before swiping and pressing a few buttons on the touchscreen.

* * *

"_The black box you recovered in Zambia was well-travelled," Commander Kira Yamato explained. "Intelligence managed to pull the NAV data from it, and came back with hits in Nigeria."_

_Commander Yamato continued, "There's been a lot of activity in the Niger Delta recently. Turns out the Atlantic Federation already had an asset in-country to monitor a P.M.C. operating in the region. Arcturus says they're providing security for natural resource companies, but it looks like that's not all they're up to."_

_He paused. "These guys are muscling in on refineries, running ops into local villages…they're destabilizing an already shaky area. We want to know why."_

"_A.F.'s field agent, Officer Frank Garamond, delivered an intel package on the situation, and then went dark," the commander went on. "They've tried to re-establish contact. So far, no luck; they're assuming for the worst."_

_The commander then detailed the objectives. "We're going in to locate, secure, and extract Officer Garamond…whatever his condition. For the equipment you will use, our chief designer Evgeniy Mudrov, is here to explain."_

"_Thank you very much, Commander," the chief designer spoke in his mild Russian accent. "In base mode, this is a low-I.R. signature H.A.R.O. Drone. It may look cute on the outside, but you can use it to identify enemy positions from on high, or to pinpoint and lock in targets. It's your eyes in the sky. Good luck, Spartans!"_

* * *

**February 10, C.E. 93  
****Niger River Delta, Nigeria, African Community  
****1050 Hours**

The voice of a male blared out directives and instructions through the speakers in the background. In the midst of the voice reverberating from the speakers, a quad-rotor device shaped into a rounded ball had hovered around the thick, dense brush and over the swampy waters, four propeller-like engines extending from the open holes of the upper-half and lower-half body that retracted away almost from each other. It floated through for a few moments, before it suddenly snapped back into its normal form, a hand reaching out from the waters to catch it in a snap. From there, Davis signalled to the rest of his squad behind him to move up.

"A.F.'s asset is the priority," Brooks directed. "Locate, secure, and extract."

"Glad we came in the sneaky way," Franco remarked.

"Lock it up, Frankie," the team leader sternly replied before directing again. "Get your A.R. online."

All of the Spartans enabled the IRIS-COM features through their visors, allowing them to see multiple pieces of information in clear and comprehensive form. As they moved up the swampy waters, Davis heard a few disturbances ahead, before he signalled to the team behind him to hold their ground.

Ahead off to their left, they could spot a couple of civilian males terrified by a few men clad in armoured military gear, armed with assault rifles pointed at them. One of the armed gunmen pointed his rifle, threatening an already terrified man aboard the dock, while another aimed at the other civilian male aboard a rowboat. Without warning, the gunman who aimed at the civilian aboard the boat had fired, a bullet piercing through the male's torso. The man fell aback by the force of the bullet coming through him, his body launched off the boat and sunk into the waters.

The violent sight had instantly enraged Castle again, as he was about to make a step forward, before Davis noticed him.

"Hold," the young Spartan insisted, quite hushed up.

Reluctantly, Castle managed to stay still, as they continued to observe. The other civilian Nigerian had been put off-guard by his friend dying in the waters, as he tried to run away, only to receive a bullet through his body from a mercenary in front of him. His body flopped down, back first, a pool of blood forming from the exit wound. The mercenary who had shot and killed him then signalled and told the others to return back. The two men on the docks followed him, but not before the man in front had kicked the dead body of the civilian with the front of his boot, kicking the body straight into the muddy waters.

Sticking by the thick, dense brush, Davis turned to the team and signalled for the activation of the adaptive camouflage on their suits. In no more than a few seconds, they were all rendered virtually invisible from the internal cloaking devices on their suits.

"Camo activated."

As they passed by the thick, dense brush, they could notice the large wooden shack to their left, where the scene had just taken place in front of their eyes.

"This is Garamond's last known position," Brooks noted.

Brooks, Franco, and Castle made their way towards the wooden structure, settling by the tall wooden logs bounded that formed the walls underneath the main floor of the structure. Davis, the only one who remained, began deploying the unmanned aerial drone that he retrieved from earlier. Reaching out for the small, spherical device that had a familiar appearance, Davis tossed the H.A.R.O. Drone upward to the sky with a flick of his wrist. While it was in the air, he brought his left forearm to his chest, before tapping a tactile button on his left-wrist portion of his metal-plated gauntlet. An invisible beam of light shot upward from a hole of the part of the gauntlet covering the top of his wrist, where it struck the sensor placed underneath the spherical contraption. At the same time the H.A.R.O. Drone switched to its air configuration, Davis could notice a holographic projection coming out from the same hole on his left gauntlet. Through his visor, he could easily see the camera feed coming from the unmanned aerial device, and the controls for it located on the left-hand side of the projected screen.

Using his two fingers of his right hand, Davis controlled the drone smoothly, as it hovered above the tall structure of the shack, before moving forward. Through the camera's thermal imaging feed, Davis could notice that there were four heat signatures inside the building, all marked with yellow dots above the four moving signatures. The other Spartans ahead were also watching the drone's camera feed through their visors.

"Four hostiles inside," Davis noted as he moved the drone so that all of them could see the hostile mercenaries very clearly through the holes of the roofing.

He then pressed a button on the holographic control toggles to retrieve the drone back. The drone quickly hovered back to him, before he caught it in its normal form.

"We're gonna have to ask the new residents some questions," Brooks told the team. "Set up for the grab."

Davis steadily trudged through the swampy waters, as the other three Spartans quietly rushed up the stairs leading to the shack to take positions behind the entrances of the structure. Brooks and Franco prepared themselves with their firearms drawn, readied to breach the front doors. Castle situated himself beside the side entrance to his right, with Davis taking up the other side of the door, his light-machine gun armed tightly in his hands. With the four yellow outlines of the mercenaries in plain view through the walls, all four Spartans were ready to breach in.

Brooks prepared them. "On my go. 3…2…1…_GO! NOW!_"

Suddenly, Davis felt it again. In the back of his eyes, a brown seed dropped from above in an abyss, before it bounced up and exploded into a million tiny fragments. Rushing streams of "1s" and "0s" emerged outward from the zone of the impact, the numbers overwhelming everywhere. In an instant, Davis moved in and kicked down the wooden door with his left leg, the powerful force of his kick had almost blew the door off its hinges. As he breached in first with Castle following behind, he began to feel the time slowing down before his eyes, as he saw the world around him move even more slowly than he actually was. Shock and confusion overcame him for the second time, as he took a few deep breaths repeatedly, while he raised his light-machine gun from the waist-down.

'_This…feeling again!' _He thought. _'I…I don't know what the hell is happening to me! Is this…some weird thing that only occurs to me…or something else?'_

He then directed his focus on the two Spartans breaching in from the front entrance, Brooks and Franco, having seen them move slowly along with the mercenaries who were still unaware in the slowed-down world around him. Before then, he realized in his head, that he could take advantage of this sort of ability that would prove to be beneficial towards him and his team.

'_If this is some sort of crazy ability that I could use,' _he rationalized, _'then it might work out in our favour. Let's see what I can do!'_

Taking aim at the closest mercenary in front of him, standing by a window, Davis fired a few bursts from his light-machine gun. The sharp bullet rounds travelled in the normal pace of motion, shredding through the armour of the mercenary who was now caught off-guard, and passing through him with a few large spurts of blood coming off from the exit wounds. A metallic wastebasket flew in the air ever so slowly, while Brooks and Franco gunned down a mercenary in front of their sights. Castle fired a few shots that precisely made their mark on the third mercenary, who began to flop downward as streams of blood flew in the air and away from his exit wounds.

Before Davis knew it, time and motion resumed back to its normal pace, as he rushed up to the fourth mercenary who sat fear-stricken on the chair, with radio equipment on the desk in front. The young Spartan rushed up from behind, forcefully throwing the man from the wooden chair and down onto the ground hard, subduing him in the process.

"I'll ask you once," Davis retrieved a handgun from his holster and pointed it against the man's head. "Where's the American?"

The man cursed at him in a foreign language, before Davis forced him against the ground hard, his grip tightening around the man's neck.

"Aagghhh!" The mercenary shouted in pain before he yelled in English. "The refinery! In a shipping container!"

Once Davis heard everything, he clubbed the man unconscious in the back of his head with the butt of the handgun, holding its barrel tight.

He had put back the handgun into his holster. "They've got him locked up in the camp."

"Command, this is Spartan," Brooks communicated over his built-in headset. "They've got the package in the refinery. We're en route."

"_Understood, Spartan," _the head operator replied as the Spartans began headed out of the shack. _"We'll scramble support."_

The head operator then warned them. _"Be advised, you've got large numbers of civilians in your area. Watch your targets."_

"Roger," Brooks acknowledged as he took point and passed by a van slowly.

Just in front of Brooks, past the open red gates, there were a large group of civilian men and women in the street up ahead. Brooks had also seen, about 50 metres away, what appeared to be armed men having a conversation with a few civilians clustered together. A man and a woman standing right near the Spartans in front and to the right of them, both natives of the village, had taken notice of their visual signatures.

Panicking, they pointed at the armed men in the distance to let the cloaked Spartans know.

"These men!" The male native discretely told them. "They're trying to kill all of us! Please!"

As the couple left, the Spartans advanced past the gates, before they stopped after a few paces. Davis quickly lobbed a motion sensor from his belt, before it landed and revealed the three armed mercenaries in yellow outlines through their visors. As the three Spartans in front of him began to take up positions behind convenient sources of cover, Davis tagged the three men with the attachment that was built into his LMG.

"Steady, now," Castle lined up his shot. "When you're ready."

Davis then quickly gave the command to fire, before several gunshots rang out in the streets. The three mercenaries who were talking the group of natives had all collapsed to the ground with bullet holes and blood strewn all over their bodies. Right away, screams of terror and horrified shouts came across and around the street, as the village natives took cover from the gunshots while the Spartans continued advancing. As the natives began clearing out the area in the chaos and confusion that overcame them, the Spartans made their way past an intersecting road and continued their way straight.

"Move!" Brooks told the remaining natives who were in the way, as they made their way towards the path that curved to the right.

With the remaining few native citizens fleeing from the scene, the Spartans slowly approached before the street ahead. From there, they continued to hear gunshots in the distance, and more people screaming in horror. They could make out more natives ahead, fleeing away from the direction where the gunshots were coming from. As they passed through the entrance leading to the street, they immediately spotted two armed mercenaries to their left, standing in front of a few burning houses.

"Hostiles, 12 o'clock!" Brooks blared out. "Engaging!"

The two mercenaries spotted them rushing out and began to fire. However, they were quickly shot down by Brooks and Davis first, as they charged through. Castle and Brooks took to the front, while Davis and Franco followed as they rushed down the street.

"Contact, dead ahead!" Castle fired his personal defence rifle at them.

"Moving to cover!" Brooks fired as well, before taking cover by a wooden pole.

With his line of sight almost unobscured, Davis aimed and fired at a mercenary coming in from the right, with the bullet-ridden man falling down on his back.

"Move, move!" Brooks shouted at the men and women native to the village, who were trying to flee. "Get out of the way!"

"Contact, to the left!" Castle whipped around to fire several bursts at the mercenary who rushed from the alley to his left.

The mercenary fired back, before he was clipped down in a hail of bullets. Franco, behind Davis to his left, fired at another armed mercenary coming from a wooden house ahead. A few burst rounds passed through the man's skull, as he fell from the tall platform of the house.

"Come on, come on!" Castle roared, as the few civilians in front of him ran by.

Davis rounded a corner to his left, before he joined Castle and Brooks, as they shot a few more mercenaries who remained in the area. Two of them were already picked off by the two Spartans in front, while they aimed at the other remaining gunmen.

"Target down!" Castle yelled after he shot down a mercenary rushing from the path to the left.

"3 o'clock!" Brooks shouted, before he shot dead another armed man by a truck.

Davis surveyed the area around him. "We're clear!"

All four in the squad proceeded the path to the left, continuing all the way, until they began spotting an oil pipeline above ground that lead all the way towards an oil depot in the distance.

"Command, this is Spartan," Brooks communicated as his team continued onward. "We're closing on the camp. You got an update?"

"_Roger that, Spartan," _the head operator responded, _"pushing the satellite scan to you now."_

* * *

'_SATELLITE SCAN INITIATED.'_

…

'_TRACKING LOCATION: AFRICAN COMMUNITY.'_

"_We're stealing time from one of A.F.'s satellites," Commander Kira Yamato explained. "They're going to reposition for us. Stand by."_

'_LOCATING: NIGERIA.'_

"_Here we go. I'll run you through it."_

'_LOCATED: DELTA.'_

"_It'll take a minute to get full granularity from the feed," he continued, "but we're picking up some activity you should know about."_

'_LOCATED: OIL HARBOUR.'_

"_We know Arcturus runs the bulk of their ops out of the facility here," Kira explained. "It's a sprawling complex with multiple structures. Our men have been analyzing patterns of movement and cellphone traffic. All the data suggests Officer Garamond is being held somewhere in this area."_

_He paused. "Garamond has been with Special Activities for a while. If anyone could handle capture and interrogation, it's him. Still, we don't know his condition, so be prepared to carry him out if you have to."_

'_BLIND ZONE DETECTED.'_

"_Part of the camp is covered," he discovered on the screen. "It looks like some sort of hangar. We can't get an exact fix on that container."_

"_We should be able to use a drone or magnetics to track him down from our side," Davis suggested. "We'll find him."_

"_Copy that," the commander acknowledged. "It looks like the mercs aren't expecting any trouble."_

"_I'll tell ya what, man," Franco remarked, "some cold-hearted bastards to just be playing around while their friends are out there butchering civilians."_

"_They'll get theirs soon enough," Castle growled out._

"_Don't take them too lightly," Kira warned them. "They might look sloppy, but they're well equipped and quick on the trigger."_

'_HOSTILE AIRCRAFT DETECTED.'_

"_Be advised, we did pick up a pair of radar contacts several clicks out from your location," Kira analyzed. "Looks like a couple of gunships. Those choppers tell you everything you need to know about Arcturus' connections. These guys are serious business."_

_He continued. "Choppers aren't moving fast, but they are pointed at your direction. Keep your eyes up, just in case."_

'_LOCATING: NIGERIAN COAST.'_

"_What do we have for air assets?" Brooks asked._

"_Nothing for close support," Commander Yamato answered. "But our naval group's sitting off the coast, and they've agreed to loan us a couple of aircraft."_

'_LOCATED: NAVAL CARRIER SUPPORT.'_

"_We've scrambled two fast movers," Kira explained. "They'll hold south for you at Angels two-two, and wait for your call. They're your panic button if more mercs show, but we don't want to use them if we don't have to."_

"_Understood," acknowledged Brooks._

"_That's what we've got for now," the commander said. "Good luck in there."_

"_Copy that, Spartan out."_

* * *

As all of the Spartans reached their way further towards the oil harbour, Davis tossed up the H.A.R.O. Drone in the air again, and activated it.

"Use the drone," Brooks instructed him. "Mark those targets."

With the drone high up in the air, Davis could spot three hostile mercs through the camera feed, who were about 40 metres away from where they were. Tapping on a holographic button to the left of the screen, he marked the three hostiles with the blue chevrons above their heads for the other team members to see. They moved to their suitable firing positions as soon as they saw the enemies ahead of them.

"Set up your shots," Brooks instructed.

Once Franco stealthily moved up to the left and lined up his aim at his target, Brooks gave the green light for Davis to command.

"Leung. On you."

"Ready to fire."

In a few short seconds, all three mercenaries went down quietly as suppressed bullets passed through their bodies. Once the area was neutralized, Davis recalled the drone back to where he was, retrieving it as soon as it snapped back into its normal state. He quickly rushed his way down to rejoin his squad, before they had all snuck towards the front entrance of the oil depot. Davis took cover behind a concrete barrier to the right of the bridge that situated above a swampy stream of water. He then deployed the drone again, as it transformed into its air configuration.

Steering the drone high above in the air, Davis could make out a large gaggle of mercenaries around the area ahead. There were several mercs concentrated on part of the area, as they were having an intense match of soccer, while the other few and far mercenaries were located off ahead to the right. Another small group of mercenaries were located to farther-left.

"Looks like a skeleton crew," Davis observed.

"Then this should be quick," Brooks remarked.

Tagging a couple of enemies through the use of the drone, Davis directed Castle and Brooks to take positions and line up their aim on their targets.

"Ready on your go," Castle prepped him.

"Fire!"

Several metres away, the two mercenaries standing near each other had watched their fellow friends play against each other. Before they knew it, a few bursts of bullet rounds struck them through their lower-body areas, both of them going down bloody but without anyone noticing them.

Davis retrieved back the drone, before he vaulted over the barricade and slid into a position behind another concrete fortification ahead, right beside an armoured 4WD. Brooks, Castle, and Franco all advanced ahead of Davis and took covers behind concrete barriers and large metal crates that were before the mercs playing soccer in front. Still behind the concrete barrier at the bridge, Davis popped out and tagged all four men who were out in the open. Their steady aim trained at the heads of the four mercs in front of them, the Spartans awaited for Davis to give the signal.

He squeezed the trigger on his gun. "Fire, fire!"

Muffled gunshots erupted, before all four men who had control of the soccer ball went down instantly at the same time. Not before long, a mercenary watching over from the end of a catwalk began spotting the fallen bodies on the ground, before he saw the direction where the shots had originated from. An alarm sounded, catching the Spartans off-guard.

"Aw fuck!" Castle cursed out. "I knew this was gonna happen!"

"Contact, 12 o'clock!" Franco shouted.

"Watch that balcony!" Brooks pointed at the man on the catwalk. "Light-machine gun!"

The man who sounded the alarm rushed over to the mounted-machine gun position at the end of the catwalk, opening fire at the Spartans that took cover.

Davis popped out and fired at him. "Take out that gunner!"

"Affirmative!"

"Dead ahead!" Franco yelled, as he fired at a few mercenaries coming from the right.

"They're moving to cover!" Brooks yelled as a couple of mercenaries slid behind concrete barriers.

Armed with the sniper rifle, Castle quickly popped out and took aim at an exposed area of the mounted gunner, before he fired. The bullet travelled right through the skull of the hostile merc, splattering blood all over the walls near him.

"Gunner's down!" He shouted.

Davis quickly exposed himself out of his cover before firing at an armed mercenary popping out from a concrete barrier. The gunman went down in a few seconds before he could even fire back. Vaulting over the barrier, Davis immediately rushed towards a stack of large metal crates, sliding into them and avoiding a few burst rounds from enemy mercs.

"Hostile, 12 o' clock! Rifleman!"

Davis popped out of cover right away and fired at a mercenary behind a stack of metal crates to the left in the near distance. A couple of more mercenaries rushed from the left, as more bullets were exchanged between them and the Spartans.

"I'm moving!" Brooks bellowed, as he rushed off to another position.

Aiming down the sights of his scope, Davis picked off a couple of mercenaries that focused their fire at the other Spartans. Franco, ahead to his right, shot at an armed merc in the middle of moving to a new position. The mercenary stumbled and collapsed forward, on his stomach, as he lay slain from massive blood loss. Castle aimed with his sniper rifle and fired, his bullet ripping through the cranium of an unsuspected mercenary, before the gunman fell aback by the force of the impact.

"Got one!"

Brooks and Franco finished off the last few remaining mercenaries in the area, as they managed to get their bullet rounds past through the exposed legs and torsos of the men in combat gear. All of the remaining mercs were now down on the dusty, gravelled terrain, blood everywhere from the bullet holes ridden across their bodies. It was now dead silent as it was for the Spartans in the area.

"We're clear," Brooks reported as all of the squad reloaded the ammunition on their weapons.

Sprinting diagonally to the left, the Spartans moved towards what appeared to be a blue intermodal container that allegedly had the missing field agent inside. Davis confirmed this by using the magnetic optics through his visor, where he detected small signatures of metal coming from beyond the metal walls of the container. Slowly approaching the large metal container, the team stacked up against the loading doors, two of the Spartans on each side of the doors. Davis readied his light-machine gun, as Franco held onto the handle of the loading door tightly.

"I'll cover," Davis signalled to Franco.

"Got it," Franco nodded as he began pulling at the door.

The door fully open, Davis rushed in, only to find a man sitting down against the corner of the container. Bloodied and beaten with a black fabric over his head, the man coughed and groaned as he struggled against the rope that bounded his hands together.

"Stay down!" Davis ordered the man.

The man then keeled over, continuing to struggle against the binds that were placed around his hands.

"Still, still! Be still!" Castle calmly came by his side, assisting him. "It's alright, sir. We're getting you out of here."

Brooks watched from the entrance of the crate, as he saw trouble coming their way. _Fast._

"We've got company!"

Franco turned to Castle. "It's him," he confirmed. "We got him."

Castle gestured to Franco, before Franco turned to the man as he got him back up on his feet. "Up, up! Let's go!"

Taking off the restraints in a flash, Davis carried the man by his side, as he brought out his handgun. Up in the air ahead, a gunship belonging to the private military company began firing upon them. The ground shook with force, almost causing all the Spartans to lose their balance from the heavy rounds raining down on them, kicking up dirt and debris everywhere. However, the bullets had missed all of the men on the ground as they made their way out. Brooks rushed out of the container, with the team right behind him.

"Protect the V.I.P.!" Brooks roared out. "Diamond formation! Let's move!"

With Brooks, Franco, and Castle surrounding Davis and the hostage as they moved forward, the gunship hovering ahead began deploying mercenaries, as they landed on the ground.

"Pick it up, pick it up!" Franco bellowed.

"Right, right!" Castle screeched.

"They're on the bridge!"

Davis, armed with his handgun, began firing at the mercenaries rushing towards them. He pushed down the male hostage whilst escorting him, as they continued to rush forward.

"_Down! Stay down!_"

"Keep him covered!" Brooks yelled, as he shot at a couple of men were situated above a platform to Davis' right.

Davis shot at an armed merc who stood on top of a couple of large wooden crates, with the gunman falling off from the bullets that ripped through him. More armed mercenaries rushed in, with a few of them taken down by Franco who was covering Davis. Another gunman fired at Davis, the bullets deflecting off from his titanium armour, as the Spartan groaned out from the force of the bullets hitting him. The gunman was then shot down by Castle, who covered Davis' left as well as the hostage's.

"Watch your six!" Brooks blared out.

"Hostile chopper, inbound!" Davis shouted, glancing at the gunship in the air.

"Left, left!" Brooks directed. "Go left!"

"Down, down! Get down!"

The gunner aboard the helicopter began firing upon the Spartans again, as they cut to their left and dodged the several incoming rounds that barely missed them.

"Down right there, down!" Davis settled the man by one of the towering metal structures holding the facility together. "Stay down!"

With one arm busy holding the contact down to safety and another holding the handgun, Davis shot at the multiple hostiles that came from the shipping containers ahead. He fired multiple rounds at the incoming mercenaries, killing a few that were on the crates, along with another that rushed from the right. Another few of the mercenary units swarmed in, firing at the Spartan, before the Spartan returned fire again. Davis quickly turned to the hostage and began moving him again.

"Alright, back! Move back, move back!" Davis guided him. "Up, on your feet! On your feet!"

"Back!" Brooks ordered loudly. "Fall back to the camp!"

"Moving! We're moving!"

Continuing from the left, Davis shot at the multiple units of mercenaries that were now converging in on the campsite. He fired a few shots, taking down three mercenaries that rushed from the cargo trucks that stopped. The other Spartans fired at the hostile mercs that kept rushing in, doing their best to protect both Davis and the V.I.P. in particular.

"Command, this is Spartan!" Brooks frantically communicated. "We need those fast movers!"

"_Command copies," _the head operator responded immediately. _"Bruin One-Five is in the air. Can you guide on target?"_

"Roger that, patch it in," Brooks responded as a large explosion right behind them almost engulfed all of the team.

"MOVE IT, COME ON!" A Spartan hollered.

Davis scurried the hostage down behind a stack of large metal crates, pushing the man down on his stomach.

"Stay down!"

The head operator came on right away. _"Confirmed, it's yours."_

As more heavy units of reinforcements consisting of more ground troops of Arcturus mercenaries and gunships in the air had surrounded the team and began to close in, Brooks turned to Davis who was with the hostage.

"Leung, that's you!"

Snapping to his reflexes, Davis tapped a few tactile buttons on the wrist portion of his left gauntlet, allowing him to guide a cruise missile fired from one of the air units being deployed. Heavy suppressive rounds bounced off of the crates that protected Davis and the hostage from enemy fire, as he controlled the missile with the tips of his fingers. Through his visor, he carefully directed the missile as it headed for the oil depot, aimed at the hostile men, choppers, and other units on the ground.

Davis growled out in desperation. "_C'mon, c'mon…_"

As the guided missile reached its target within a few seconds, Davis popped out from his cover to see the missile explode in between a couple of hostile gunships. This was then followed by a series of massive explosions that ensued, leaving behind a flash of sheer whiteness that almost engulfed all of Davis' vision as he ducked down and away. In a matter of seconds, every chopper that was in the air had collided with one another before exploding in several fireballs, covering up the sky. Cargo trucks overturned and rolled over, before a few of them burst into flames and exploded. A few large pieces of debris narrowly skimmed over Davis and his other squad-mates, as they took cover behind the large metal boxes. As the scene began to settle, thick clouds of smoke blew off towards the Spartans, as they slowly got themselves off their feet. There was nobody left, right where the trucks and choppers were.

Davis got up, as he peeked around the corner of his cover to survey the damage, panting harshly from the adrenaline that continued to surge through his body at every rapid pulse of his heart.

"Well…I guess that worked," he panted, feeling the gooseflesh developing on his skin.

"Everyone alright?" Brooks asked in the aftermath.

"I'm fine," responded Franco, who was behind Davis.

"I'm good," Castle added.

"Good to go," Davis confirmed quietly under his breath, before he had finally unmasked the field agent. "Sir, are you injured?"

The man was distraught at first, before he gradually retained his composure. "I'll be alright," he assured. "What's the plan?"

"Plan is to get you home," Brooks answered him. "First step is to get out of the open. Let's move to that hangar."

* * *

Brooks and Franco approached the large metal doors of the hangar, with Franco covering him as he prepared to open the door, expecting any potential dangers that were behind the doors. Slowly pulling the door open, Franco took point and came through the doors slowly, checking his surroundings in doing so. Brooks followed in quick, a hand on Franco's back as a precaution.

"Clear?"

"All clear."

With the coast being clear, Davis escorted the field agent into the hangar, with Castle at the back of the pack following behind. Once they were all in, Castle quickly slid and closed the door shut. Davis brought the defenceless field agent to an area between a few boxes and a cargo truck, and held him there as the team leader communicated to the head operator.

"Command, this is Spartan. Package is secure."

"_Copy that, Spartan,"_ the head operator responded. _"That hangar looks like it has some sort of substructure. Rally there for extraction."_

"Roger that, Command," Brooks responded as Davis let the embattled A.F. intel officer walk on his own.

The Spartans continued down the spacious hangar, with the team surrounding Frank as they all walked. Davis spotted a metal crate that was filled with ammunition for small firearms placed just against the side of the wall towering over the opening of the stairway down to a lower level, facing in the direction of the Spartans. He quickly opened up the box, and helped himself in replenishing the ammunition that was spent with the weaponry he used. After he did so, he followed the team as they made their way down the staircase below.

All five men made their way down the stairs, before they headed left and traversed through a short hallway. As they cornered to the left, the Atlantic Federation field officer had let out a gasp of fear with sudden realization, before he ran ahead of the Spartans that followed him.

"I gotta go back," he dreaded anxiously, heading right. "I gotta get back into town."

Davis paced forward a bit more to catch up to the intelligence officer. "Sir, with all you've been through," the young Spartan insisted, "I think you can take a day off."

As the Spartans travelled down another flight of stairs, Frank turned around and faced Davis, who was in front of the pack.

"No, you don't understand," he argued, standing by a door. "These guys, these mercs, are caught up in something big! I don't think they even realize how big it is."

"You got any hard intel on that?" Davis asked, following the field agent who continued right, before climbing down a short flight of stairs.

The field agent puffed deeply. "Yeah, of course," he calmly replied. "I've been watching them for months. But somebody tipped them off. I had to ditch my files before they picked me up."

"Where are they now?"

"In the trunk of a car, parked at a gas station in the north part of town," Frank elaborated.

As Frank stopped at a room full of generators and mechanical machinery that powered the hangar, Davis followed suit while Brooks came in, as he communicated to the head operator.

"Command, Spartan," Brooks explained. "V.I.P.'s got some critical intel we need to recover. North section of town, in a vehicle at an abandoned gas station."

Frank paused hesitantly for a moment, before he continued walking, with the Specter team trailing behind him.

"_Copy, Spartan," _the head operator acknowledged. _"Stand by, we'll do another sweep."_

The field agent had found what appeared to be a break in a large sewer pipe that was fit for a man who was around 7 feet tall. He stepped through the giant hole, and into the pipe, where the Spartans followed him right inside as he went to the right. Trudging through the dirty waters that were ankle-deep in the sewer pipe, Frank led the Spartans down the pipe, avoiding foreign objects that situated on the pipe—such as a rusted oil drum that was left in the middle. He slowed down for a moment, as he turned to Davis following him from behind.

"Let me have your sidearm," Frank requested. "I'll take you to it."

"That's a negative, sir," Brooks responded from behind Davis. "You're going home. We'll get your gear."

Frank stopped and turned his head to the Spartans again. "I was a Ranger," he reasoned. "I can handle it."

"I'm sure you could, sir," Brooks insisted. "But today, you're the mission. You're leaving."

They continued to travel down the pipeline of the sewers for many more metres ahead, until they stopped at a point where the path diverted into two lanes: left and right. It was a dead end heading straight, where the path was blocked off by metal bars fixed in front. Davis led the way, directing Frank and the team to the right, as they continued their way down the pipe.

The head operator patched in on their headsets right away. _"Spartan, we're still seeing a lot of activity on the ground. What do you want to do?"_

"Spartan will recover the data, and meet you at the secondary L.Z.," Brooks responded.

"_Roger that," _the head operator acknowledged. _"If you're going back in there, you better do it soon."_

"Acknowledged. We're moving now. Spartan out."

Travelling down the pipe for another 65 metres, the five men began noticing the light being reflected onto the surface of the pipeline had become even brighter, as they got close to it. Trudging through the ankle-deep waters that were murky brown, the five men followed the path that curved to the left, before they found the exit out from the pipe. As they ran towards it, a swarm of large rats passed by their feet, as they ran away from what appeared to be the loud noise of a helicopter flying overhead.

Dropping down from where the sewer pipe had broken off, one-by-one, the Spartans and the field agent landed onto the foot-deep waters outside. They looked up, to find the transport chopper hovering metres above them, as a rope was dropped down for the field agent to be extracted safely. Davis assisted Frank, as he fixed the end of the rope around his belt, before making a few adjustments to ensure he was safely lifted away.

"Thanks," Frank told Davis. "Thanks for coming to get me."

"Rangers lead the way," Davis responded, before he signalled to the pilot crew above to give the green light.

Brooks watched the field agent getting pulled up to the helicopter. "Good luck, sir. See you in a few."

As they all watched the helicopter pulling off and away from the scene, they focused back on the new objective they had just received. Leading the way, Davis discovered the opening of a sewer pipe at ground-level, where they went over some ramping rocks and into the pipe. They trudged slowly through the pipe, before they stopped, as they saw the end of the path in front.

"We'll go through here," Brooks directed. "Eyes open."

As the light shining through tunnel slowly revealed a village of bungalows and crudely-constructed dwellings, which were past the shallow pool of muddy, contaminated water that came from the pipe, all four Spartans passed through the end of the pipe. Passing through the shallow pool of murky sewer waters, the team of Specters slowed to a stop behind a make-shift fence of rusted, corrugated metal, situated in between two derelict bungalows.

"Hold your positions, I hear footsteps," Brooks instructed quietly. "Sounds like they're nearby, beyond this fence."

Moving away from the fence whilst crouched, the Spartans took up positions by a wall of a bungalow to the left of the fence. In front of the pack, Brooks turned to Davis who was behind, signalling to him with the nod of his head. Davis then reached out for the spherical device and tossed it in the air.

"Drone deployed." Davis monitored the surrounding areas through his visor.

As the H.A.R.O. drone was in the air, Davis directed the unmanned aerial vehicle forward, before banking to its left. Through the infrared camera, Davis could spot one lone hostile mercenary patrolling in a nearby area, just ahead of a skid full of used oil drums. Using the electronic tagging feature on the drone, Davis tagged the Arcturus merc with a tap of a holographic button. Directing the drone away from the area and banking around to the right, the Spartan could immediately notice another hostile merc patrolling another area nearby from below, the shotgun-toting mercenary cautiously being by a small dwelling unit with a makeshift garage. He tagged the mercenary through the view of the drone.

Brooks and Castle moved to their suitable firing positions behind the corners of the buildings, before they lined up their aim on their assigned targets.

"We'll take the shot when you're ready," Brooks prepared Davis.

Not waiting for a second, Davis immediately gave the order to fire. Both Spartans who were in their positions quickly fired, the two unaware mercs collapsing on their fronts from the bullets piercing through their backs. With the areas cleared, Davis continued to guide the drone forward for another several metres before he stopped it. Through the camera, he could notice another rifle-wielding mercenary patrolling the area up the short rocky slope ahead, in between an S.U.V. in the foreground and a burning house in front of him. There was another mercenary in the area, carrying a pump-action shotgun with him. Banking the view to the far-right, Davis could spot another Arcturus legionnaire with an assault rifle. As he moved the drone back leftward, he had spotted a fourth legionnaire within the area.

Observing the movements of all four hostile legionnaires in that area, Davis waited patiently for a few moments, until he saw two mercenaries patrolling the front end of the perimeter. The two other gunmen were behind the burning houses at the back. Taking the opportunity before his eyes, Davis quickly e-tagged the two men on the ground who were in plain view of the drone's camera feed. Castle and Franco rushed past the bungalows in the area they were in, before they quietly took up positions behind the marked men who had their backs turned to them. Davis then signalled to open fire; they did, the two legionnaires patrolling had went down quickly, blood spilling out onto the pavement.

Davis then proceeded to e-tag the other two mercs in the area, this time, Brooks rushed over quietly and was positioned near Franco. He lined up his shot, along with Castle at a different vantage point. Once the two remaining Arcturus gunmen reached to the areas where the two bodies lay, Davis gave the command to fire, with the team leader and Castle firing simultaneously. On sync, the men collapsed to the ground hard, just before they could even discovered their slain comrades.

"All areas are cleared," Brooks reported as Davis retrieved the drone back from the air. "Here we go. Group up on me."

Sprinting away from the village full of derelict dwellings, Staff Sergeant Davis Leung ran for many metres before he could rejoin his team. They raced past a couple of burning skids full of oil drums, passing by an armoured 4WD and a small shack, before they turned to their left and climbed up a short flight of wooden stairs. Exiting the stairs to their right, the Spartans rounded past a towering tree before they stopped by a set of brown wooden doors. They began to stack up, two men by each door, before they positioned themselves close to each other. Brooks took point, as Castle quickly opened the door to the right.

Brooks, Franco, and Davis all rushed in with Castle right behind them. They found themselves in a courtyard, a space enclosed by a ran-down building, open to the skies above. Passing through an opening of a wall, the Spartans treaded slowly past the space that the sun shone upon, while they heard audible noises of a chopper lifting off in an area nearby. Passing through a set of open doors, the Spartans got on their stomachs and shimmied their way, one-by-one, past an opening with the chipped down remnants of a wall above. Back on their feet, the team of four passed through a doorway to their left, just as the chopper had left. All quiet at that point, the ZAFT Specters vaulted over chipped-down brick walls to their left that were knee-high.

Brooks took point, as they passed through another open doorway to their right, before they climbed up a makeshift ramp of bricks and other debris from the torn-down building. They passed an open doorway in front of them, before they slowed through the room and stopped behind a set of chestnut-brown doors ahead. With two men at each side of the doors, Davis nodded to Brooks, as the young Spartan took point. Brooks quickly opened the door wide, the three other men swarming in before they stopped, as the team leader followed. They were now on the highest level of the ran-down courtyard, the sun shining down on them, just before they heard a hoarse scream of agony coming from below.

Observing the sight in front of them, three men on the ground level were dressed in casual clothing and had dragged a bloodied and savagely-beaten man in what appeared to be the uniform for the P.M.C. operating in the area.

"Looks like the locals are getting some revenge," Franco monitored.

Davis had a look of deepening concern on his face, as he saw the three men ominously circling around the defenceless merc by the shades of the tall tree. "They're gonna tear him apart. What should we do?"

"Do?" Franco responded incredulously, just as one of the angered locals landed a foot against the already-embattled man. "Kid, we aren't even here."

Davis turned to Franco, who began leaving off along with the others, before he turned to the sights once more. Catching up with the squad, Davis could hear several blows being landed on the hapless mercenary by the angry civilians, as he began to vault over a series of brick walls to the left side of the courtyard. The rest of the team followed behind him, as they reached all the way to the other side of the courtyard. Hopping over one last barricade, Davis led the pack past through an open doorway, as Brooks communicated to the head operator.

"Command, can you get a fix on the vehicle's location?"

"_Negative, Spartan,_" the head operator answered. _"We see a couple of structures, but we can't see what's under them. You'll have to do the legwork."_

"Understood."

Franco followed Davis and Brooks as they all jumped down to the lower level of the building. "Millions of dollars floating around in space, and still can't beat just going to see for yourself," he quipped.

Passing through a doorway, they climbed up from the large pit they were in, before they made their way up and onto a raised platform back outside. They jumped down from the raised platform, before they jumped down again and back onto solid ground. With their camouflage systems activated again, the Spartans made their way up a small flight of concrete stairs.

"Alright, eyes up gentlemen," Brooks firmly instructed. "We need to find that car."

They found themselves back in the wide, open area of the village, with the oil pipelines above in the far distance. Just as they stopped by a stack of wooden boxes, they began to see several locals running for their lives, from a path to their left. After waiting for the rest of the civilians that ran and screamed past by them, they slowly trekked down the path where the panicking people had ran out of. Passing by the red metal doors that were swung open and remained in place, the Spartans moved while crouching, finding themselves in another part of the village.

"_Spartan, Snowbird," _the voice of the female helicopter pilot came on their headsets. _"We've reached secondary. We'll orbit until you're ready for extract."_

"Copy, Snowbird," the team leader responded. "We'll be with you shortly."

Davis remained in place by the corner of a building in the shadows, while Franco peeked out from the corner with Brooks and Castle behind them.

"One hostile, he's got an assault rifle."

Brooks split away from them and moved in a different path, as he observed the areas surrounding him to the left. "There're two more left, next to the checkpoint."

The Spartans split ways, before they converged past a large market stand, as Castle spotted another hostile gunman ahead of his view.

"Bloody hell, I see four now."

Franco and Davis took cover behind an abandoned leather sofa, while Castle took cover behind another one ahead to their right. Davis immediately popped out from his cover, and spotted the four mercs within eyeshot. One was patrolling on top of a bunker, right under the watchtower. Two of them were on the ground and to the right of the bunker, while the fourth mercenary was watching the shores of the ocean to the bunker's left. With the light-machine gun drawn out, Davis e-tagged the man on top of the bunker first, followed by the two men on the ground and to the right, before he focused his sights on the man to the left.

"Ready on your shot, Leung."

Davis narrowed his eyes before he pulled the trigger. "Fire, _fire!_"

On cue, the four marked men went down straight away as bullets pierced through the bodies and heads.

"All hostiles cleared," Brooks noted as Franco and Davis moved up along with Castle.

Franco moved behind the wall of sandbags, just as he caught something in his eyes through the windows of the bunker.

"I've got eyes on two more here, coming from 9 'o clock."

Davis took cover at the corner to the left-end of the bunker, popping out to find the two mercenaries walking besides each other in the near distance, stopping by to watch the waters of the ocean.

"Add two more," Brooks noticed. "Same direction."

The young Spartan continued to peek out from the corner, finding another two mercs about to join the first two at the shores of the beaches. He began tagging the armed men in the distance, one-by-one, before he focused his sights on the last man in the back of the pack. Firing his weapon, the other Spartans did at the same time, the four legionnaires in the distance struck by the travelling bullets coming through.

"We're clear!"

As Davis moved out from the corner with the team advancing, he could hear the rumbling sounds of a gunship in the distance becoming closer and closer. He moved into the shady areas of the bunker, in the hopes of avoiding detection by the attack helicopter. Once the helicopter passed through the area, the Spartans continued to travel past and around the bunker, and through the sandy shores before they climbed up a small flight of stairs leading into a room of a building.

"Keep your heads down," Brooks warned quietly. "If that chopper spots us, it'll get messy real fast."

They had cut to their right, before exiting the building through an open doorway and into the outdoors again. Taking cover behind a wall close to their left, the Spartans peeked out to observe the gunship hovering over an open area, with a small unit of Arcturus' soldiers of fortune dropping down from the chopper by cable. They waited for a few moments, before the attack helicopter began to take off and flew away from the scene. Davis quickly deployed the drone from his belt, guiding it high above as it can while he monitored the surrounding areas below.

In front of the camera feed, Davis could spot a soldier of fortune inhabiting the top of a watchtower about 30 metres away from where the drone was. He shifted the drone downward, as he saw another rifleman on the ground, just by the bunker that housed the watchtower above. He then panned the drone to the left, finding a third rifleman about 45 metres away from the unmanned vehicle in the air. Without checking even further for any more hostile men on the ground, Davis e-tagged the three men, assigning the targets to his three squad-mates.

"Fire, now!"

All three Spartans lined up on their targets and fired, with the man in the watchtower going down from a bullet to his head, the other men on the ground also dropped dead right away. However, one of the Arcturus mercenaries nearby had spotted one of his dead comrades flopped over on the ground, before he began shouting over his walkie-talkie. Before the Spartans knew it, they were fired down upon in intense bursts of bullet rounds coming from afar.

"Hostiles found the bodies!" Franco shouted. "They know we're here!"

Davis hurriedly retrieved back the drone before they moved away from the walls and back into the room they were previously in. Taking cover under the windows, more hostile bullet rounds found their way past the windows, shattering the glass frames into millions of shards that rained over the Spartans. The suppressive bullet fire coming from the remaining mercs ricocheted off of the concrete walls of the room, some narrowly missing the ZAFT Specters. Brooks and Franco began to return back fire, before they themselves ducked down fast as more incoming bullet rounds came at them furiously.

Franco turned to Brooks. "What the hell is suppressing us?!"

"M.M.G. nests on those buildings!" He roared.

Brooks, Franco, and Castle continued to peek out from under and returned fire again on the hostile troops of mercenaries firing upon them. However, they were quickly suppressed by the mounted gunner nests on the buildings far ahead to their right.

Brooks ducked down for cover again. "We're under heavy fire! I can't even see those damn nests!"

Castle popped out again from his cover and fired his sniper rifle, managing to take out one of the mounted-gunner nests. Suddenly, the whole entire room trembled and shook back and forth with enough force, as the gunship circled around and fired 40mm rounds at the building they were in. The concrete on the ceiling began to crumble away in a pile of dust, the building slowly falling apart.

"_FUCKING HELL!_" Castle blasted out angrily. "_That goddamn chopper is **NOT **helping us out!_"

Davis, still underneath a window besides them, quickly devised an idea. He pulled out the H.A.R.O. Drone again and deployed it, the unmanned air vehicle hovering out the window, before he directed it to the far-right and tagged a hostile merc on the ground who was near the building that housed the nests.

"Got it!" Franco shouted, as he aimed down at the marked man and fired, killing him instantly.

Castle immediately popped away from under and peered through the sights of his sniper rifle, before he pulled the trigger. The one man behind the mounted-gunner nest flew aback with a distance-travelling bullet piercing through his eye, before he laid on the ground dying.

"Other M.G.'s down!"

"We're getting them now!"

Davis continued to direct the drone, before he tagged a merc just by a small building on the ground to the left.

"RIGHT THERE! GET FIRE ON HIM!"

"On it!"

As one of the Spartans peeked out from under the windows and opened fire on the marked man, Davis steered the drone away from the incoming fire that was focused on the unmanned vehicle. He then tagged another hostile merc firing from the second-storey of a building 25 metres away from the drone.

"TAKE THAT ONE!"

"COPY!"

A loud bang was heard, before the marked man in the building succumbed straight away from a sniper round in his chest. Davis retrieved the drone back, riddled with deep dents from the enemy infantries that fired at it. The room they were all in continued to tremble with violent force, as Davis backtracked to the door they entered the room and out, as he could see the gunship hovering around in the skies. He quickly strafed back into the room, taking cover underneath the windows again, before he peeked out and fired at the attack chopper with his light-machine gun. Some of his several burst rounds bounced off from the metal of the chopper's exterior, while a few of the burst rounds pierced through the windscreen of the helicopter's cockpit, narrowly missing the pilot and its gunner.

"Reloading!" Davis replaced his spent cartridge with a fresh, new load for his primary weapon.

The gunner on the hostile attack chopper continued to rain down on the Spartans inside the building, which was about to fall apart with several more rounds coming from the aircraft.

"We gotta do something about this bastard!" Castle barked at his team.

"Can't stay here forever!" Franco added.

"Alright, we gotta split up!" Brooks quickly brought up the idea. "That way, the gunner's gonna have to focus on one of us, while the others try to take it down! Sound good?"

"Yeah, I like that!"

"Great idea, Chief!"

The team leader then turned to Davis, with Castle and Franco turning to him as well. "Leung, you got that?"

Davis dodged a few incoming rounds from the chopper, before he looked up at Brooks. "Sure, let's try that!"

"Alright, on me! _LET'S MOVE!_"

Vaulting over the windows, the Spartans dropped down onto the ground, before they separated from each other. The gunner aboard the chopper began to focus on one of the Spartans rushing out in the open, as he fired at him. Franco narrowly avoided the lethal rounds that rained down on him like Hell, juking around and maneuvering from position to position, taking cover behind buildings. While Franco had distracted the chopper's gunner, Davis fired continuously at the gunship, emptying away at the new cartridge that he had loaded in. Brooks and Castle also fired at the chopper, before the pilot directed the helicopter, with the gunner now focusing in on Davis below.

With the chopper now hot on Davis' heels, the young Spartan avoided the incoming 25mm rounds from the air, as he ran in a zig-zag pattern. He raced up a small flight of stairs, sprinting past a parked car, before he slid to cover behind the wall of a derelict house. Moving away from the cover, Leung continued to fire down upon the attacking chopper above him, before he had exhausted the whole cartridge. He squeezed at the trigger of the L.M.G., only to hear metallic clicking noises instead of the loud, ratcheting booms coming from the barrel. Realizing that he had ran out of ammunition in the cartridge, Davis scrambled off before he was caught by one of the 25mm rounds from the chopper, sending him flopping down onto the ground.

Picking himself back up frantically, Davis got on his feet and kept on running, blowing past a lamppost before he dove into a dwelling that was exposed from the top and sides of the house. Taking cover behind a wall, the young Spartan struggled with the reloading process on his light-machine gun, as the gunner aboard the chopper located him and was about to fire again. Before he could even push down the red button on the flight yoke, the gunner and pilot were met with several bursts of bullets hitting the windscreen of their cockpit as well as the side of the chopper to their left.

Brooks, Franco, and Castle concentrated their fire on the chopper that was fixed onto Davis, depleting every last bullet in their rifles. Castle took aim at a soft spot on the attack helicopter through the scope of his sniper rifle and fired. The bullet travelled straight through the metallic exterior of the chopper's right engine, shredding through the electrical components powering that engine. Instantly, the helicopter's right engine exploded, spewing out blazing flames with thick, black clouds of smoke billowing outward of the flames. The pilot of the helicopter struggled to bring the vehicle under control, as it jerked to the right and angled in that direction. The flames began to spread towards the other parts of the chopper as the pilot desperately steered it back and away from the scene.

Brooks breathed out heavily as he saw the burning chopper flying away into the distance. "Area's secured…we're all clear."

Castle and Franco exerted their breaths more frequently, as they began reloading the ammunition on their weapons. Brooks did likewise in the moments of tranquil that followed.

"Leung, you all right out there?" Brooks finally broke the silence. "Leung?"

A moment later, crackles of static filled their headsets before the young Spartan's voice came on.

"Yeah…I'm alright," he quietly panted. "Doesn't seem like I broke anything."

Brooks gave a bountiful sigh of relief, as Davis shakily emerged from the dwelling unit, a fully-loaded light machine gun in tow. Castle and Franco were in disbelief for a moment, before they finally settled back and focused on the task at hand. Davis regrouped with his team, before he deployed the H.A.R.O. Drone again, as he directed it towards their north-north-west.

"There's the gas station," he noted.

The Spartans rushed towards where the gas station was located, before they located the back of an S.U.V. parked near the pumps. Stacking up against the rear door of the sport utility vehicle, Davis opened up the trunk of the vehicle with his squad-mates covering for him.

"Command, we've secured the intel," Brooks communicated over the radio. "We're ready to extract."

"_Roger that, Spartan," _the head operator acknowledged.

The voice of the female helicopter pilot followed. _"Snowbird's en route to the L.Z."_

As soon as Davis retrieved every last piece of intelligence reports he could find, he stashed them in a compartment of the combat suit. He patted a hand on Brooks' back as confirmation, before he drew out his light-machine gun again. A few short moments passed before the Spartans heard the noise of the transport chopper's propeller blades spinning, getting louder and louder as it neared where they were. Just as the chopper was close to making its descent, a projectile in the shape of a mini-warhead zoomed towards it from its left and slammed into it. A large fireball burst near the chopper and rocked it, causing it to swerve sharply to the right. The Spartans looked around and saw just above in the skies in front of them, the same attack helicopter that had come after them not too long ago.

"_Spartan, we're in trouble!" _The female pilot communicated. _"Taking evasive action!"_

The attack chopper then began to fire down on the Spartans, as they scrambled away from the vehicle parked near the pumps.

"Hey, our buddy's comin' back for seconds!" Franco remarked loudly in his sarcastic wit as he fled. "Let's make sure he doesn't have a round three!"

The attack helicopter then focused on the transport chopper that widely looped around it, firing at the moving aircraft and yet narrowly missing the shots it tried to land on. While the enemy aircraft was fixated on the ZAFT chopper in its sights, Davis emerged out from the shadows and tagged the attacking chopper for the others to focus their fire on.

"ENGAGE THE VEHICLE!"

"Roger!"

All four Spartans on the ground began firing at the beast of a gunship that tried to take down the ZAFT transport chopper. The female chopper pilot grunted in sheer frustration as she steered the chopper away from the continuous auto-cannon rounds that grazed the aircraft. Aiming down his sights, Davis continued to fire straight at the attack helicopter's engines, while Castle and Franco moved to positions as they also continued to fire at the enemy chopper.

The hostile helicopter then aligned itself with the transport chopper it faced and fired its auto-cannon again, with the ammunition rounds piercing through one of the transport chopper's engines. Thick, white smoke poured from one of the engines to the chopper's left side, as the helicopter angled to its left and stuck on the position as it circled. An alarm wailed repeatedly across the cockpit of the transport chopper as the female pilot struggled to maintain control over the air vehicle.

"_SHIT!_" She cursed out, tugging at the flight yoke in front of her.

"Keep firing on that hostile chopper!" Davis bellowed out. "We gotta take it down!"

"On it!"

The four Spartans on the ground kept on firing at the hostile chopper as it neared them, while it was busy trying to shoot down the ZAFT chopper in front of its sights. Castle moved out from his cover, before he took aim with his sniper rifle whilst moving, pulling the trigger on his gun. His shot managed to pierce through the hostile chopper's left engine, blowing apart the electrical wiring inside, and sending sparks and flames building up on the copter's left side. Franco and Brooks shot at the chopper's right side with their personal defence rifles. Some of their bullets travelled upward and struck through the right-side engine, severing out the rotors and electrical wiring on that engine. The attack helicopter was now burning up on both sides, the heavy clouds of smoke building up from the intense fires that increased in size from the blown-out engines.

The pilot of the hostile chopper began shouting in hysterics, in a foreign language as he struggled to bring the copter under his control, the alarms going off in the cockpit while the helicopter spun around in circles. He only managed to slow down the chopper from spiraling downward, before he met through the shattered windscreen, the sight in front of his horrified eyes that he did not want to see as the chopper stopped. He came face-to-face with Davis on the ground, already having drawn out his light-machine gun. Davis fired a barrage of bullets from his light-machine gun, shooting continuously from the hip, as most of the bullets travelled towards the chopper's main fuselage.

In no more than a couple of seconds, the chopper exploded into a massive fireball, sending pieces of debris everywhere. The fireball shrunk as the thick clouds of black and white smoke expanded outward, with most of the flaming wreckage already on the grounds far away. Brooks and the other Spartans watched in awestruck, as they saw the smoking transport chopper remain in the skies as the only air vehicle out there.

Shaking his head, Brooks snapped back to his focus. "Snowbird, you're clear."

"_Roger that, Spartan. Let's get you out of there."_

The transport chopper finally made its descent, as the thick grey smoke billowed out from one of its damaged engines. The Spartans quickly regrouped, before the wheels of the helicopter touched down on the ground.

"GO! GO! GO!" They rushed towards the open doors of the helicopter. "Keep moving, come on!"

"Pick it up," Brooks piped up as they all boarded the chopper.

Davis looked around to see everyone on board. "All present and accounted for!"

"Let's go gentlemen," Brooks quipped. "I don't like being on the ground."

The transport chopper began lifting off, before it gained enough altitude as it flew off into the distance, out into the skies over the blue ocean.

_**To be continued in PHASE-05: "On the Prowl".**_

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**NEW TECHNOLOGY  
**_**H.A.R.O. (Hover-land Advanced Robotic Operative) Drone (ZAFT)  
**_**FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS**

**Land and Air Configurations – **The H.A.R.O. Drone can be deployed in either configuration depending on various situations. In the air configuration, the drone transforms into a quadcopter-like vehicle. In the land configuration, the drone is kept closer to the ground via three wheel-like rotors, and can be maneuverable.

**Infrared Camera – **The I.R. camera feed on board the drone can be used to identify hostiles through thermal activity.

**3D Target Marking **– Hostiles within the viewpoint of the drone's camera can be marked with visible markers above their heads.

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**And that concludes this chapter! Here are some notes about this chapter, for those who have read it from start to finish…**

**Firstly, I have to say that Bob Marley is one of my favourite music artists. Not only did I include a couple of excerpts from his song "Buffalo Soldier" as having significant meanings to the story (maybe even foreshadowing something? Who knows!), but it's also a direct reference to the start of the "Noble Tempest" mission in GR: FS, where another song of his was featured in the game.**

**Speaking of which, the mission that Team Spartan undertook in this chapter is based off of the aforementioned mission from the Ghost Recon game, where the Ghosts had to rescue a U.S. intelligence officer in Nigeria. **

**Another thing to note in the chapter, is that Davis is slowly beginning to realize what is happening to him as soon as he enters the Advanced SEED mode. Although he has not exactly found why this happening to him, he does realize the potential of the ability he has. Further explained, Advanced SEED mode can be activated at will in some situations, while it can also be activated when either someone close to the individual is in harm's way, or the individual is facing a near-death scenario. That will be demonstrated later on in the story.**

**Lastly, I actually did have one hell of a time coming up with the final few sequences that involved the Spartans taking on a hostile attack helicopter, in what appeared to be a "boss battle" situation. In fact, writing down the final scene in the chapter where Davis shoots down the chopper with a light-machine gun, very much reminds me of something out of a **_**Rambo **_**movie. Or some '80s action flick that featured scenes like this. Anyway, that's enough said!**

**For those of you who are wondering when the mobile suit action arrives, there's no cause for concern. It'll all happen in a few chapters after this one, as the story continues to build up, and the antagonists will be soon be introduced into the story. If you do like this story, feel free to leave a comment or favourite it…or both! Stay tuned for more on the way ahead!**


	9. PHASE-05: On the Prowl

**Author's Note: **Hello, and welcome again for another excitingly-new, action-packed chapter of Gundam SEED Reflex! I don't always update my current fanfics, but when I do…it's this fanfic! Aside from a not-so-clever attempt at "The Most Interesting Man in the World" reference, I can promise you that there's going to be a whole lot more action in Team Spartan's continuing quest to find out those responsible behind the deaths of Team Roman. Without further ado, here's the fifth story chapter. Enjoy!

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**Voltage Axe Presents**

_**Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Reflex**_

**PHASE-05: On the Prowl**

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**February 10, C.E. 93  
****Gulf of Guinea, Eternal-class ship **_**Polemos  
**_**2030 Hours**

Several ZAFT soldiers waited in a straight line besides a depot in the armory room that contained numerous firearms and multiple types of ammunition that were stored inside the depot. Some of them were in their white service t-shirts, a few others clad in uniforms of desert-pattern camouflage. While they waited in the queue, two men passed them by, a man in his early-30s sauntering with a young man beside him who wore his rimless glasses. The black-haired young adult who wore the glasses had a very stoic expression marked on his face, the look of his eyes seemingly entranced by something that continued to beset him for a long while.

The man in his early-30s, of darker skin complexion, turned to the young soldier at his left.

"I know that scene in Nigeria was tough," Brooks assured Davis, "but don't let it get in your head."

Davis continued in his stoic silence, still trying to disseminate the events that had happened early in the mission that they undertook most recently, in the back of his mind.

* * *

_Brooks and Franco prepared themselves with their firearms drawn, readied to breach the front doors. Castle situated himself beside the side entrance to his right, with Davis taking up the other side of the door, his light-machine gun armed tightly in his hands. With the four yellow outlines of the mercenaries in plain view through the walls, all four Spartans were ready to breach in._

_Brooks prepared them. "On my go. 3…2…1…GO! NOW!"_

_Suddenly, Davis felt it again. In the back of his eyes, a brown seed dropped from above in an abyss, before it bounced up and exploded into a million tiny fragments. Rushing streams of "1s" and "0s" emerged outward from the zone of the impact, the numbers overwhelming everywhere. In an instant, Davis moved in and kicked down the wooden door with his left leg, the powerful force of his kick had almost blew the door off its hinges. As he breached in first with Castle following behind, he began to feel the time slowing down before his eyes, as he saw the world around him move even more slowly than he actually was. Shock and confusion overcame him for the second time, as he took a few deep breaths repeatedly, while he raised his light-machine gun from the waist-down._

* * *

Brooks continued as Davis was deep in his thoughts, "Those people were in trouble long before we got there."

The dark-haired male remained silent and expressionless, as the two men passed by the front of the lineup to their left. A bald-headed male soldier waiting in the line at the front had took notice and was not amused at both men passing by him.

"Hey, there's a line here!" The surly-looking man scolded them, before he turned to another male soldier who was in front of him. "Guess the military's not real big on manners, huh?"

He then came face-to-face with a very disgruntled Franco, sporting a field cap, with Castle next to him. The bald-headed man was caught off guard at his bloodshot eyes, the dark blemishes forming underneath them, combined with his scrunched eyebrows and facial features that struck fear into the man, as he got close to his face threateningly.

Franco snapped as he confronted him, about to lay his arms on the man. "Maybe you want to teach me some, _KID?_"

"_HEY!_ Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Castle immediately stepped in to break up what could've been an ugly, sparring match-up between the two. He then turned to the bald-headed man a moment after he cut in.

"Excuse us, we're a little off this morning," the Englishman explained in his calmly manner. "Haven't slept in 72 hours, and we just got back from a village full of dead civvies…our mistake."

Convinced by his words, the bald-headed man took it easy on them and had let the two Spartans walk off. "Hey…you guys can go ahead."

Franco, still quite distressed by what he had experienced recently, stormed forward slowly in a haze of anger with Castle right behind him to his right.

"Come on," Castle tried to convince him. "Don't sweat it, stay calm."

Unmoved by the confrontation and Castle's words, Franco muttered out the word _"fucker"_ under his mouth, directed at the bald-headed man now behind him to his left. He then stopped to extend his left middle finger out and flashed it at the man he had just cursed at as an open insult, before he continued to trudge further at his slow pace with a concerned Castle right by his side.

"I'll save you a seat, _jarhead_…." Franco dreaded under his breath menacingly, as the two men at the front of the lineup watched on before turning to each other in disbelief, wondering what had just happened.

* * *

"_Officer Garamond is on his way to Northolt Air Base," Commander Kira Yamato explained. "After they check him out, he'll be going home, thanks to you. In return, he gave us some critical intel."_

_He continued, "The pieces are coming together, gentlemen. All three supply chains lead us back to the same source: a gun-runner out of Pakistan, with an international client list. We're going into Peshawar, a convenient hub for illicit trade, to and from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. This isn't a small time operation."_

"_Whoever he is, this man is running serious hardware, mil-spec technology," Kira continued further, "maybe even radioactive material. We'll have to cut him off."_

_He paused. "We're cooperating with Equatorial Union forces on this one. Their operation will cover ours. They keep the local, we get his supplier, and everybody wins."_

"_Your team will identify, secure, and extract the supplier," the commander outlined the objectives. "Get this guy, and we're a major step closer to the big picture. Evgeniy is here to add one more thing for your current equipment."_

"_Thank you, Commander," the chief designer said. "I have modified to add one more feature to the H.A.R.O. Drone that you are currently using. The drone will now be packed with a sonic pulse weapon, when it is in its land configuration, but just don't rely on it too much. That's it for now; good luck out there!"_

* * *

**February 11, C.E. 93  
****Peshawar, Pakistan, Equatorial Union  
****1600 Hours**

The streets of Peshawar were filled with life, copious amounts of civilian men and women marched down the sidewalks of the streets, with a heavy stream of vehicular traffic that consisted of small cars and trucks. Sounds of the crowd din flooded the air from below, as the four ZAFT Specters rappelled down the side of a building, from high up.

"Command, Spartan's prepping to infil the target area," team leader Brooks communicated.

"_Copy, Spartan," _the head operator responded. _"Be advised, you've got a lot of civilians in your vicinity. Keep it low profile out there."_

All four Spartans made their way through a few open windows of the building. "Understood. Should we pick up the buyer while we're here?"

"_Negative, we're leaving him for the Equatorial Union forces. Alive. Secure the seller only, he's our priority," _the head operator outlined their objective.

"Extract the seller, don't shoot the buyer. Copy that," Brooks acknowledged as he ended the transmission.

Once they were all inside the room of the building, they enabled their augmented reality features within the IRIS-COM. Through their visors, they could see a blue dot marked with the amount of distance from the target objective.

"Target house is marked," Brooks noted. "Keep your eyes open. We don't want any surprises."

It was then that Brooks and Davis vaulted over the open window they had just came through, and onto the flat roof of the tall building they were on. Castle and Franco followed, as the first two Spartans vaulted over a wall to their left. Spotting another wall to their right, Davis climbed up first and made his way onto the elevated platform of another roof. He quickly slid to crouch behind the brick wall a few short paces ahead, with all other Spartans having caught up.

With his adaptive camouflage system enabled automatically, Davis stuck his head out from cover and peered through the scope of his sniper rifle. There was a host of buildings in front of his sights, just about a hundred metres away from his position. He could make out two hostile men taking guard on top of the buildings in the distance, one balaclava-clad man having drawn out his semi-automatic assault rifle, while another masked gunman was watching on a rooftop just a level above said man. Davis instantly e-tagged the man on the lower-level rooftop first for Castle to take the target, before he lined up his aim on the gunman at the higher level.

"Ready on your shot," Castle growled under his breath.

Davis squeezed the trigger on his suppressed sniper rifle. "Go!"

Within a couple of seconds, both masked gunmen on the rooftops had their skulls blown off into several fragments as they collapsed on their backs, dying right away on the spot.

Brooks immediately spotted more hostiles while he took a position behind the wall that lined an edge of the roof. "I've got eyes on two more, up ahead of us," he peered. "One more."

"9 o'clock," Franco added quietly.

As the camo on his suit activated again, Davis moved off to the right of the rooftop, before he turned to his left again and peered through the scope of his rifle. There was another building north-westward of where they were, also about a hundred metres away. The young Spartan could make out a masked gunman strolling at his leisurely pace with an assault rifle in his hands, before he trained the sights on the moving target. As soon as the hostile man had stopped past the towering structure on the building, Davis pulled the trigger right away, the bullet travelling far and through the man's throat and out the back of his neck.

"Target eliminated."

Once they saw that there were no more hostile guards in the vicinity, Davis rejoined his team already crouched behind the wall that lined the edge of the rooftop. He poked his head out over the ledge once the camouflage on his suit was activated, peering through his scope again. He could make out two men clad in their veils that covered their heads and chests, located on a lower-elevated roof just 30 metres ahead. Davis e-tagged the gunman who strolled by a clothesline full of hanging articles of clothing first for Castle to make his mark again, before setting his sights on the second man who was standing ahead of an air conditioning unit.

"Ready?" Davis turned to Castle as he lined up his shot.

The Englishman gruffly affirmed. "Ready."

"Fire!"

Both gunmen on the rooftop just below them went down straight away, splotches of blood erupting off from their exit wounds to their torsos, as the whole vicinity was now completely devoid of any hostiles.

"Area's clear," Brooks reported.

The Spartans then moved while crouching to the right, before they rounded a corner to the left and made their way down a flight of stairs and onto a lower-elevated portion of the roof. Turning right, the whole team climbed up a chest-high wall, before they continued across on the slightly high-elevated roofing. They slowly made their way towards a staircase that took them down and onto a lower-elevated surface again. Cornering to the left, making their way to the right, then heading left before they took the corner to the right again, the Spartans slowed their approach as Davis snuck towards cover behind a skid full of sandbags. Castle and Brooks took cover behind a wall next to the roof access door.

Brooks peeked his head out, surveying the view in front of his eyes.

"Hostile, armed with an assault rifle. Up ahead."

Davis looked up from his cover, peering through the sights of his scope. The crosshairs of his scope were laid on a veiled man slowly lifting himself up on the roof of a building and with a roof access door behind him, his assault rifle having drawn out in his hands. Lining up his shot, Davis squeezed the trigger on his rifle, the single-burst fire having passed through the man's sternum as he collapsed to his death.

"He's history," Castle grumbled.

After Davis reloaded the magazine on his firearm, he joined Castle and Brooks, hopping down onto a slightly lower-elevated roof surface. As Brooks approached and took cover behind a short ledge leading onto another roof to his right, he could spot a few more hostiles in the distance up ahead.

"We need to get rid of these guards first," Brooks instructed. "Secure the perimeter."

Davis crouched while moving slowly, peering through his scope at the sights in front of the team leader. He could make out through the open gaps that hanging clothes made from the clothesline in front, that there was a rifleman monitoring on the edge of a towering structure on top of a building to his right. Shifting to his right, Davis could make out another rifleman monitoring on top of a building that was to his left. He tagged the man on the building to his left first, before tagging the man on the towering structure to his right. His instincts kicked up again, as he turned around behind and could easily spot a veiled guard by a few satellite dishes, getting himself off his feet with a rifle in his hands.

Once Castle and Brooks got into position, Davis took aim at the man by the satellite dishes through his scope, and fired right away. At the same time, the two other Spartans fired their rifles, all three men going down with blood profusely pouring away from their exit wounds as they all lay slain.

"Four more hostiles," Brooks noted from his new position. "Three o'clock."

Davis turned around again to climb up the short ledge, before dropping down from it and making his way towards cover behind a wall. He poked his head out of cover, peeking through the sights of his firearm. He trained the crosshairs of the scope on a veiled guard monitoring on top of a tall building 60 metres away from where they were. He tagged the moving target first, before he moved his sights down to another rifle-toting guard just above an advertisement billboard, his back turned to Davis. Davis tagged him second, before he moved his sights further down to the right, before shifting to the left. There were two more armed guards, one walking in front of another at an even lower-leveled portion of the roof. He tagged the guard who was in front, before he settled the crosshairs on the hostile behind.

"Ready when you are," Franco prepared him.

Waiting for the perfect moment, Davis had found it and fired right away. The three other Spartans fired on cue, with all four guards that were on the rooftops ahead were now flat on the ground, baseball-sized bullet holes that marked their slain corpses.

Davis moved up, following Castle and Brooks again, as they made their way behind a brick wall that overlooked an area ahead that was enclosed with three connected structures that formed a square.

Brooks peeked out, "Got a hostile on the roof up ahead."

Castle looked up before he settled back down behind his cover. "There's another one, on our right."

Staff Sergeant Leung poked his head out of cover to take aim through the scope of his sniper rifle. There was, indeed, a veiled guard with a semi-automatic rifle standing on a roof about 40 metres away. He tagged the man for Castle to target upon, before he peered at a balcony to his bottom-right, where he observed another veiled guard coming out into the open.

"Marked two," Davis noted to Brooks, as the team leader reached a suitable firing position.

"Ready on you," Castle gave the green light to Davis.

"Fire, fire!"

Within a quick moment, both guards went down imminently at the same time, with the sharp bullet rounds coming right through their abdominals and chests. Once the area was cleared of the hostiles, the Spartans headed to the right, before they leapt down from a ledge.

"Alright," Brooks commanded. "Form up on entry."

Climbing over a short barrier, each one of the Spartans took positions behind each side of the rectangular skylight on the roof of the structure.

"We're going in fast," Brooks warned as Castle reloaded his rifle. "Pick your targets and drop 'em."

"Ready, we'll move with you," Davis confirmed before he peered through the spotlight to make out a few shadowy figures below them. "I count four."

"Get a drone in there," Brooks commanded Davis.

Deploying the H.A.R.O. Drone, Davis steered the unmanned aerial vehicle towards the square space enclosed by the three structures. Lowering it onto the floor of the balcony, Brooks further instructed Davis over the communications on what to do.

"Switch to land configuration, and locate the target. I wanna know exactly what we're walking into."

Tapping a holographic button, the drone in air configuration had instantly transformed to its land setting. The spherical drone was now in its normal state, with the exception of two wheel-like rotors extending from the two holes of its bottom-half, with another wheel-like rotor having extended out from the back of the bottom-half. Guiding the now-unmanned ground vehicle, Davis steered it past the open doorway, before sneaking it through an open vent shaft and out. Through all of their headsets, they could hear a Pakistani man shouting angrily over his phone in English, as they saw the camera feed of the drone through their visors.

"Well, that's the buyer," Davis noted. "No sign of the seller though."

"Looks like they're still waiting around," Castle eavesdropped.

"He should've been here by now," Franco realized. "You think he spooked?"

"I don't know," Brooks answered before he quipped. "Let's go ask."

Brooks then turned to Davis who was steering the drone. "Arm the H.A.R.O., set up to breach."

Davis signalled back with a nod, as he steered the drone to the right, before he directed it down the stairs to its left. The U.G.V. now onto the carpet grounds, it stealthily manoeuvred past a chair without any of the guards and the buyer noticing. Once the drone made it all the way towards the middle of the room and parked from there, Davis lifted an index finger of his right hand and tapped on the holographic button that deployed the sonic pulse built into the drone.

In an instant, everyone in the room was jolted aback by a strong electromagnetic burst that emanated from the spherical device, including the male buyer.

"GO! GO! GO!" Brooks shouted, as they breached from the skylight.

The glass panes of the skylight on the ceiling exploded into millions of tiny shards, raining down on the large group of men, as the four ZAFT Specters quickly rappelled downward from the now-open skylight. As their feet touched the ground, time slowed down before them, as Davis drew out his personal defence weapon and aimed at the closest guard as he turned around to his left. He quickly fired in a few short bursts, the bullets penetrating through the veiled man's body and leaving behind spatters of crimson-red fluid in the air. He then turned his sights on another rifleman right next to the slain guard to his left, and fired another few rounds. The man slowly collapsed to the ground as the bullets pierced straight through his eyes, falling to his side. Castle, Franco, and Brooks finished off the other remaining guards in the room.

As time and motion instantly resumed to its normal and synchronized pace, Davis quickly rushed over to the cowering Pakistani male, before he forcefully subdued him against the wall. The turban-clad male shouted in Urdu as Davis violently patted him down and frisked him for any suspicious materials or items that he may have.

"Whoa, hey, kid!" Franco told Davis, "Careful with that! We might need him."

Davis then slowly reached for one of the man's pockets, before he retrieved what appeared to be the man's smartphone. The young Spartan then passed it over to the team leader.

"Command," Brooks requested the head operator, "we need you to trace the signal."

"_Copy, Spartan. Punch it to us."_

"You got it."

* * *

'_SATELLITE SCAN INITIATED.'_

…

'_LOCATING: PAKISTAN.'_

…

'_LOCATING: PESHAWAR.'_

…

'_LOCATING: NORTH BORDER.'_

…

'_LOCATED: CITY CENTER.'_

"_Satellite's locking in now," Commander Kira Yamato confirmed. _

"_Alright," Brooks responded. "We're gonna move back up to roof level."_

"_Roger, keep the line open," Kira responded. "We're triangulating. Stand by."_

…

'_TARGET LOCATED: WEAPONS DEALER.'_

"_Okay, we've got a fix on the weapons dealer," the commander confirmed._

_Brooks asked. "On the move?"_

"_Negative," Commander Yamato responded. "We've got some complications."_

_He analyzed the screen. "Traffic's got the vehicle boxed in on all sides," Kira explained. "You'll have to go to him."_

"_Tough to keep it low profile if we're out on the street, sir," Castle lightly objected._

_The commander kept observing what was happening on the screen. "Stakes just went up," Kira dreaded. _"_Equatorial Union forces are closing in on the area. They've already locked down two of the major routes. Looks like they're making a play for both parties."_

_Davis snapped at the current revelation. "That wasn't the deal!"_

"_Guess they're making a new one," Kira quipped earnestly, before he paused. "This just got real messy, gentlemen."_

"_Think we can trade the buyer for the seller?" Davis asked._

"_Not an option, Spartan," Kira explained. "Dealer's the big catch. If they get him, the E.U. forces won't let us near him. And if he gets away…we may never track him down again."_

"_We'll get him, sir," Brooks assured the commander. "What do we do about the Equatorial Union forces?"_

_The commander elaborated. "We'll bring you in from the opposite direction. That'll let the Equatorial forces push the target your way and avoid any accidental engagements."_

"_Let me make that clear," Kira commanded them. "You are NOT to engage the Equatorial Union forces."_

"_Are they gonna show us the same courtesy, sir?" Franco asked with a slight hint of sarcasm._

"_As long as they don't see you."_

"_What's the E.T.A. on the bird?" Brooks asked._

'_LOCATED: SUPPORT HELICOPTER.'_

"_She's tracking in now," Kira answered. "It's pretty much worst-case down there. You're going to have a lot of civilians in harm's way, and multiple hostiles moving through traffic."_

_He warned the Spartans, "Watch your targets, and watch what's behind them."_

"_Understood," Brooks acknowledged._

"_Marking the location for you."_

'_LOCATION MARKED.'_

"_Copy that," Brooks confirmed. "Spartan's on the way."_

"_Just once, I'd like something to go to plan," Castle calmly quipped._

"_Plan wasn't that great to begin with," Franco commented. _

"_Stay sharp, boys," the commander told them._

* * *

As the Spartans rushed down the middle of the busy street, multiple exchanges of gunfire rang out in the air, bullets hitting and bouncing off the ground that kicked up dirt and bits of gravel everywhere. Civilians caught in the crossfire scrambled and ran for their lives, yells and screams of terror erupting all over the area, as the gridlock of cars were now abandoned by their owners. Rushing and dodging the incoming rounds headed his way, Davis slid behind the front of a small, red hatchback.

"Alright, eyes up gentlemen!" Brooks barked out as he quickly took behind the cover of a side of a building. "We need to find that car!"

Having drawn out his personal defence rifle, Davis checked his corners around the left of the car and to the right, unable to identify any hostile riflemen in front with the numerous civilian men and women running towards his direction. He reached for a motion sensor device from his belt, before he armed it and lobbed the device in the general direction in front of him. With the motion sensor on the ground somewhere, Davis was able to pick up a few male outlines marked in red through his visor. Peeking out from the left side of the car's front, he saw a female local running towards him before a barrage of bullets ripping through her body from behind. The civilian woman laid dying on the ground in a pool of blood, just as Davis could see one of the hostile gunmen sliding to cover behind the back of an S.U.V. that was parked 20 metres ahead. Furious at what he had seen, Davis drew out his P.D.W. before he took aim through his scope and fired in short-rounded bursts.

As the assailant poked his body out of cover, he was met with the several bullet rounds that passed through his torso and abdomen, collapsing instantly and profusely bleeding out as he succumbed right away. The five other veiled gunmen on the ground shouted angrily in Pashto, before they returned fire at the Spartans moving forward from cover-to-cover. More locals in the area of the town were caught in the crossfire between the hostile gunmen and the ZAFT Specters fighting their way up. A line of them were gunned down by the hostiles, three innocent women and two senior males all fallen into a bloody heap. Glass shattered everywhere, as bullets penetrated through the many windows of the flood of cars and buildings all over the area.

"Moving!" Davis rushed away from his previous position before taking cover behind the front of a black S.U.V., narrowly dodging the bombardment of gunfire aimed at him.

"Hostiles, 9 'o clock!" Brooks shouted, as he poked himself out of cover and fired at a moving gunman from his right, the man going down face-first from being shot in the legs.

"Rifleman, up ahead!" Castle yelled as he got up from his knees and opened fire on a veiled hostile taking up behind the back of a station wagon.

The bullet penetrated through the vehicle's front and back windshields, before it went through and split away at the skull of the unsuspected gunman.

One of the remaining riflemen ahead at the three-way Y-shaped intersection screamed in his home language, before he threw an armed grenade at Brooks. The fragmentation grenade bounced a few times, before landing in front of Brooks as he rushed out towards the front of a minivan in time, just as it exploded. The powerful force of the explosion launched an unsuspected male native against a wall as he ran, breaking every bone of his body.

"They're moving!" Franco bellowed before rushing and sliding towards cover behind the side of an auto rickshaw.

He then quickly peeked out to return fire through the open spaces of the rickshaw, clipping down two masked gunmen who charged in front of him. Davis poked his head out for a bit, as he could make out a gunman firing from a balcony on the front side of the building about a hundred metres ahead and to his right. Braving away at the barrage of bullets that bounced off of the S.U.V., the young Spartan switched positions to take cover behind the front of a four-door sedan nearby ahead to the right. Taking out a sniper rifle from his back, he peeked out from the front of the car and steadied his aim at the man on the balcony, before pulling the trigger. The bullet pierced through the man's throat before exiting away from the back of his neck, as the gunman collapsed backwards lifelessly.

Brooks laid suppressive fire on the two remaining gunmen behind a couple of buses, allowing Castle nearby to fire upon the two assailants with his P.D.W., picking off one to his left before he took another one down to the right.

"Targets are down!"

"I'm moving!"

Davis moved off from his previous cover, before sliding towards the front of a pickup truck and poked his body out from the right side, firing a few bursts at a masked gunman in front of him. A few more civilians rushed past him, as he moved away from the truck.

"Contact! Dead ahead!" Castle roared, as the four Spartans advanced towards the road to the right.

"Assault rifle!"

Davis got onto the sidewalk to his right, before he took cover behind a stack of coloured crates. Franco and Castle took positions behind the fronts of passenger vehicles, exchanging back fire at the gunmen ahead. Brooks scrambled from cover-to-cover, aiming down his sights and firing down on a few gunmen that charged, picking them off instantly. The staff sergeant of the squad quickly reloaded the magazine on his rifle, before he emerged from the crates and took cover behind the back of a sports car. Just as he poked his body out of cover, one of the gunmen in the near distance fired his semi-automatic rifle at him. Davis felt the bullets strike through his legs, as the force of it launched him on his back and onto the ground, as he struggled to move away from the line of fire.

"_Aaaagghh!_" He screamed in pain as he started to bleed out. "_I'm hit! I'm down!_"

Castle fired a few rounds at the attacking gunmen, before he turned to his right and saw the incapacitated Davis lying down on his back, dragging himself towards the back of the sports car.

"Argonaut's down!" Castle shouted to the other squad-mates, before he took cover behind the front of a vehicle from the striking bullets. "Cover for me! I'm coming for him!"

Brooks and Franco moved up slightly to lay down suppressive fire on the hostile assailants coming from the opposite end of the road. Castle rushed over to the immobilized Davis, avoiding a few bullets that narrowly missed him. He reached for an auto-injector from his belt that was the shape of a saber-tooth, the medical device containing apple-greenish fluid through its glass casing.

"You're gonna be alright, Davis!" Castle held the auto-injector firmly with one hand before he stabbed the tiny needle through the cloth portion of his combat suit. "Just stay with me here!"

Davis grunted out in pain as he felt the dosage working its way through his skin and working its way through his veins. In a few seconds, he felt the mind-numbing pain instantly disappearing from his legs, with Castle getting him up from his feet right away. They immediately scrambled away from each other, taking up positions in the process. Franco and Brooks kept firing down on the gunmen advancing, both of them taking out two of the hostiles.

"Riflemen! Coming towards our right!" Castle blared out, picking off a few hostile gunmen taking cover behind a few vehicles.

As Davis continued down the sidewalk, he could see a couple of the gunmen charging towards his direction, their assault rifles already drawn out. Before he was about to be caught by them, he felt it again. A brown seed dropped down from the abyss in the back of his eyes, before it bounced upward and exploded, sending a rapid stream of "1s" and "0s" surging outward from the zone of impact. Marked by a thin white line gleaming out of his extending from his shrunk pupils within the enlarged irises, time and motion slowed before his eyes as he was the only one moving at a normal pace. Drawing out his rifle right away, Davis fired a few short bursts, taking down both assailants in front of him. He ran past one of the open doorways leading into an abandoned storage space. Before he advanced even further, he saw a few masked gunmen coming past the open doorways from the left.

A second thin white line gleamed out from his pupils right next to the first line, as he felt himself charge at the first gunman he saw in front, quickly drawing out his combat knife. Exerting his strength and agility at higher than maximum levels, he instantly disarmed the masked man's rifle away from him, before he overwhelmed him and swiped his knife at the man's neck. Slashing away at his throat, Davis took him by the neck and slammed him against the brick wall with violent force. He then ripped the rifle off the second gunman from his hands, before he also overwhelmed him and violently slammed his head a few times against another brick wall. Taking out his sidearm, Davis avoided the third gunman's swing of the back of his rifle against him, before he spun around and shot him point-blank repeatedly.

Rushing out into the open again, Davis pulled out his personal defence rifle and rapidly fired at a few gunmen in front and to his right. All of the hostile assailants were picked off right away, as Davis rushed out and dove into a side of a minivan, avoiding bursts of bullets in front that narrowly missed him. He could notice that there was a masked gunman taking cover behind a taxi right in front. As the gunman poked his head out from cover, he was met with several bullet rounds piercing through the glass windows of the rear-passenger doors, before being struck by them. Rushing to take cover behind the black-and-yellow taxi, he turned to his left to find Castle behind the side of the taxi as well, just in front of him.

The ground shook with force as a deafening explosion rocked in front of the Spartans, as a hostile man armed with a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher fired from the balcony of a building to the left side of the street.

"Hostile with an R.P.G.!" Brooks shouted. "Watch out!"

Davis moved away from the taxi before he took cover behind the side of a building as the man with the rocket launcher fired again. It struck a vehicle, launching it in the air with a huge fireball before it came back down on the ground. The three other Spartans scrambled away from each other as they took different positions behind vehicles and buildings, as they returned fire at the onslaught of gunmen on the ground. The young Spartan reached out for his sniper rifle as another mini-warhead was launched, obliterating another parked vehicle on the road. Poking out from around the corner, Davis took aim at the hostile male through the scope of his rifle and fired, the man dropping the rocket launcher instantly as he collapsed on his back dying from a sniper round to his chest.

More heavy gunfire was exchanged between both groups, as the Spartans continued to advance forward, taking cover between different vehicles on the road as they moved up. Davis rushed up from his previous position, before he got out his P.D.W. again and fired at a few incoming foot soldiers as he dove towards the sidecar of a motorcycle parked on the pavement near the sidewalk. Castle advanced forward, before he fired in several bursts to his right, gunning down three hostile men who toted shotguns right by a bus. Franco reloaded his primary weapon, before he moved from cover-to-cover, firing blindly through the back windshield of a hatchback and picking off a gunman in front.

"We gotta get to the vehicle!" Brooks shouted as he sprinted, reloading his rifle. "Move up! Secure the area!"

Passing by a red S.U.V., Davis rushed behind Castle before he took cover behind the front of a 4WD vehicle. He could hear the loud, ratcheting booms going off from the mounted gunner on an armoured truck just 30 metres away from their positions. The three other Spartans proceeded to finish off all the other remaining groups of hostile riflemen in the area. Castle emptied his clip on a few masked hostiles coming off from the right, and picked off a couple more hiding behind a few vehicles. Franco slid to cover right ahead of Davis, as he shot at a gunman tearing off from his left, before moving away as the mounted gunner fired at him. Davis then rushed left and slid to take cover behind a small green coupe, before he popped out and fired at a rushing gunman at point-blank range.

A couple more riflemen rushed out towards his direction, firing at the coupe with their semi-automatic firearms, before Davis emerged out quickly and fired in short bursts. Both gunmen went down right away, bullet holes across their torsos with crimson-red fluid leaking out of them. The mounted gunner on the truck focused his aim on Davis, firing in rapid bursts at the coupe, flattening its tires and chipping away at the metal. Davis broke off from the coupe to his left and somersaulted his way behind the front of a red minivan, with Castle behind the wall of a building beside him. All the windows of the minivan burst apart, showering tiny shards all over as the mounted gunner continued to fire down on the Spartan. Davis reached out for a fragmentation grenade from his belt as he nodded at Castle, who also pulled out one from his belt as well. The pins pulled on their grenades, both Spartans tossed the explosives in an upward arc, both landing next to each other under the armoured truck. A massive fireball ensued, destroying the armoured truck and throwing the dying mounted gunner off the bed. The blast also claimed another two gunmen who were in front of it, as they lay slain in the radius of the explosion.

Once the area was finally devoid of all waves of hostile enemies, Brooks and Franco emerged from their covers and rushed forward, with Castle and Davis joining them.

"Move to the car!" Brooks ordered. "Secure the H.V.T.!"

As the Spartans moved towards the white sport utility vehicle that allegedly carried the weapons smuggler, Castle took point first as he approached the automobile slowly. With all other Spartans covering for him, he carefully pulled on the driver-side door and slowly swung it open. Davis had his primary weapon drawn out as Castle fully swung the door open, only to find that there was no one occupying the car.

"Damn it!" Davis blasted out as he searched the car. "Target's fled!"

"Command, Spartan," Brooks communicated to the head operator. "You got a read on the H.V.T.?"

Suddenly, Davis heard a distinct electronic beeping noise that went off somewhere inside the S.U.V., with dull vibrating noises in between the long, haltering beeps. He looked inside the car again, before he located the noise originating from inside the glove compartment of the vehicle.

"Wait a minute," Davis paused, his eyes slowly widening. "Is that a cell?"

The head operator then reacted fast, hearing his words and those sounds over the radio.

"_BOMB! GET CLEAR, GET CLEAR!"_

As fast as lightning, Davis scrambled away from the vehicle that was going to go off any second, with the other three Specters sprinting off into the opposite direction as well. Without warning, a monstrous explosion tore through the streets, sending thick black smoke everywhere and rocking the ground to its very core. Vehicles that were caught in the blast radius were thrown off into the air like toys, a few of them almost landing on the Spartans as they dove in the nick of time.

A few long moments after the blast, a section of the street was all covered in a fiery inferno, cars and trucks were either flat on their wheels or they were turned over from the force of the blast. A sniper rifle was laid on the ground, while the fires kept burning ahead in the dead silence that followed.

"_Spartan, this is Command. Do you copy?"_

There was no answer, with the head operator attempting to establish communications again.

"_Spartan, this is Command. Do you copy?"_

A hand picked up the sniper rifle and carried it, as Castle slowly shuffled towards Davis, who was laying down on top of a car's hood.

"_Come in, Spartan!"_

Castle helped Davis off the hood of the car, as the young Spartan shook his head a few times before the master sergeant handed him his rifle, while getting his feet back on the ground. Franco knelt for a long moment besides a four-door sedan, before he got back up and started to walk, as the smoke started to clear.

"Command, Spartan is intact," Brooks emerged from the side of a building. "What happened?"

"_Dealer's car must've been rigged to blow," _the head operator explained.

"And the target?"

"_The dealer's secured a new vehicle, and is on the move! You'll have to track him from the air," _the head operator commanded. _"We've got choppers inbound to pick you up. Move to the rally!"_

"Copy," Brooks acknowledged as two helicopters came from their left and hovered above them, "on the way."

Descending slightly towards the ground before stopping, the choppers dropped down a couple of ropes for the Spartans to climb up and board them.

"Go! Go!" Brooks shouted as Davis and Castle hooked in to the ropes from one of the choppers. "Move it, people!"

Once the Spartans made their way aboard the choppers through the rope lifts, Castle and Davis settled on their seats before they bumped their fists with each other.

"We've got it, come on!" Davis bellowed in confidence as the other two Spartans settled onto the other chopper.

"Alright, let's go!" Castle shouted, as the choppers began to take off and away.

* * *

'_SATELLITE SCAN INITIATED.'_

"_We've got positive I.D. on the dealer," Commander Kira Yamato confirmed. "She's Russian. Mariya Volkov."_

"_Oh, it's a chick?" Franco laughed before he snidely remarked. "Now I feel kinda bad for callin' her a bitch."_

'_TRACKING TARGET: MARIYA VOLKOV.'_

"_We're working connections to see what we can find," Kira explained, "but we've already got enough to be worried."_

_Commander Yamato continued. "Early reports have her linked to an international import-export collaboration with known ties to criminal elements. These people are very good at making things disappear…weapons, money, people. If she goes to ground, we're gonna have a hell of a time digging her back up again," he paused._

"_ZAFT's Intel Department is involved, and our boys at Terminal have a file, but nothing's as good as a face-to-face," Kira stressed. "We need her alive, gentlemen."_

"_Better tell that to the neighbours," Castle quietly remarked._

"_It's a hornet's nest down there," the commander noted. "Looks like everybody with a gun's coming out to play."_

"_You'll have to deal with them before you stop her," Kira insisted. "And you WILL stop her. Our birds don't have the range to chase her into Afghanistan. If she makes the border, she's as good as gone."_

"_That's a roger, Command," Brooks acknowledged. "We're on it."_

* * *

The helicopter flew high above ground, travelling along the winding gravel roads of the stony mountains to its left.

"Here we go!" Davis shouted as he manned a mounted rotary gun at the left side of the chopper, with Castle in his sniping position to his right, aiming out the open window.

As the chopper continued flying straight alongside the winding road from below, Davis trained his sights following along the path of the roadway, before he spotted an armoured 4WD with its mounted gunner firing at the chopper right away.

"Hostile, left!" Davis roared, as he began firing the mounted rotary gun at the vehicle below.

"Hostile light truck!" Castle shouted, as he spotted another armoured vehicle behind the other, its mounted gunner also firing at the moving helicopter.

Davis kept firing the mounted gun continuously at the trucks that now stopped, the heavy bullet rounds shredding through the vehicles as they blew up into spectacular fireballs surrounded by thick clouds of smoke.

"We got this!" Castle trumpeted as he focused on another hostile 4WD going around a concave-shaped bend of the road. "Just don't get cocky!"

The mounted gunner on the 4WD focused his fire at the helicopter, before Davis fired back with the bombarding rounds of the rotary gun. Some of the heavy rounds struck through the windshield of the vehicle, killing the driver, as the truck lost control and slammed hard into a roadside barrier and exploded next to a civilian bus.

"Check your fire!" Castle yelled as he saw a few civilians scrambling away from the scene. "Those are civilians!"

Davis focused his fire on another armoured 4WD as the helicopter got even closer alongside, avoiding the bullet rounds from the mounted gunner aboard the vehicle, before he continuously fired at the 4WD. The 4WD's tires blew out with enough force to send the armoured vehicle on its side, before it rolled over a few times, landing on its roof. A mini-warhead zoomed towards the helicopter from the far-right, narrowly skimming the chopper as it went through.

Castle hollered. "R.P.G., watch it!"

"We've got it, come on!" Davis howled as he fired down at a blockade of two armoured 4WDs ahead of the road, both vehicles exploding into massive fireballs and sending a few ground troops flying off the cliff.

Castle surveyed the area to his right and saw a convoy of vehicles that were almost two kilometres away from the carnage that took place on the road. Two armoured 4WDs were escorting an armoured S.U.V., one in front of it and one behind it.

"We've got a visual on her vehicle!" Castle identified.

"Concentrate on the escort vehicles," Brooks directed. "Do not engage the primary. I repeat, do _not_ engage the H.V.T.'s vehicle!"

As the helicopter kept travelling forward, the loud, buzzing drones sounded off from the rotary gun being fired, spattering heavy bullet rounds at the escort vehicles. The militarized 4WD behind the gun-runner's S.U.V. instantly blew up in a fiery wreck, the heavy rounds piercing through the vehicle's gas tank. Davis then locked his focus on the other 4WD escorting the sport utility vehicle, as they passed by a few hostile foot soldiers on the ground. Firing the rotary gun without lifting off the triggers, the heavy rounds pierced through the 4WD before it had also exploded into flames, the scrapped-out vehicle going over the cliff and tumbling down.

With the S.U.V. entering a tunnel, a loud alarm blared rapidly aboard the helicopter as a mini-warhead zipped towards it.

"Do something or these guys are gonna smoke us!"

The helicopter pilot then made an evasive maneuver, as the chopper swerved violently and curved around to avoid the incoming rocket-propelled grenade. With the R.P.G. passing by, the helicopter pilot steered and pitched the air vehicle back into its normal position, as it flew around the rocky mountainside. When it reached to the point where the tunnel ended, the alarm sounded aboard the cockpit again as Davis could see a hostile attack chopper coming their way.

"Hostile chopper, inbound!"

The enemy gunship fired its auto-cannons at the transport chopper, some of its rounds nearly missing the two Spartans aboard the aircraft.

"We're losin' it!" Davis yelled.

Castle turned to the pilot. "Go, GO!"

As the chopper blew by the hostile gunship, Davis jerked the rotary gun to his left and fired at the enemy helicopter from behind. The enemy chopper tried to follow the transport copter as both made a wide left. However, as the ZAFT chopper moved above the enemy gunship, Davis fired the rotary gun again as the heavy rounds struck the rotors and the body of the aircraft.

Castle fired at the moving gunship with his sniper rifle. "Keep the pressure on!" He shouted at Davis.

Davis swung the rotary gun back into position as he fired at the gunship that was now near the exit of the tunnel. The several bursts of heavy rounds from the mounted gun shredded through the metal of the hostile chopper, and pierced through the windscreen, killing both pilot and gunner in the process. The attack helicopter burst into flames before it set off into a large fireball that sent every scrapped part of the chopper off the cliffs.

"We got this!" Davis howled out.

"Alright, we're givin' it to 'em now!" Castle added, as the transport chopper made its approach near the exit of the tunnel, as the gun runner's S.U.V. came plowing through the exiting end.

"_Put a bird down across the road," _the head operator observed. _"Let's see if she can drive through that."_

Davis fired the mounted rotary gun at a couple of hostile foot soldiers, as the black S.U.V. blew past the transport chopper that was up close to the road.

"Heads up, here we go!" Castle bellowed, as the helicopter took off once again.

"Step it up, come on!" Davis shouted at the pilot, as the helicopter trailed close along the black S.U.V. travelling down the road at a fast speed.

As the transport chopper began to cut off the black S.U.V. once more, Davis fired a few bursts from the rotary gun, with the few rounds puncturing away at the tires of the vehicle. The tires on the vehicle exploded, the force of it sending the S.U.V. tumbling over, end-over-end. The wrecked armoured vehicle flipped over a few more times, before it ended up on its side, just in front of a settlement sealed off by brick walls.

"That ought to stop her," Davis remarked as the chopper made its descent before hovering next to the chopper that Franco and Brooks were in.

The other transport helicopter then flew off and around the area to land, as the transport chopper Davis was on hovered around the settlement and landed on solid terrain behind it. Davis and Castle hopped out of the chopper, before they began to rush towards the totalled sports utility vehicle.

"We got her boxed in! Secure the area!"

Brooks, who was still aboard the other transport chopper, began firing from the mounted rotary gun aboard that aircraft. Davis rushed from behind an abandoned house to his right, before he took cover behind a brick wall, with the downed S.U.V. nearby to his left. Firing from the mounted gun, Brooks picked off several masked gunmen that rushed towards the vehicle from the houses that were in front of Davis, on the opposing side of the road. The young Spartan peaked his head out of cover to find a cargo truck coming from his left, headed straight for the S.U.V. before it stopped short by a mud-bricked hut. Castle advanced towards a position behind the flipped-over vehicle in the middle of the road, as Davis fired several rounds at the hostile foot soldiers coming out from the truck, with Brooks assisting him from the chopper above.

A hostile foot soldier with a rocket launcher fired a mini-warhead at Davis before he was picked off by Castle. The small metallic warhead flew above Davis and past him, before it slammed into the second-storey of the settlement behind the Spartan, blowing out chunks of rubble and debris everywhere. Another cargo truck went around the downed S.U.V., passing by Davis as he popped out and fired at the truck before reloading, as it rounded a corner to the right and stopped behind where Castle and Davis were. Castle scrambled back to his previous position before he opened fire on the cargo truck that unloaded more hostile foot soldiers. Likewise, Davis emptied his clip firing at the several enemy riflemen that scrambled out of the truck's back end. An armoured 4WD had also entered the scene, stopping right behind the cargo truck, as the mounted gunner fired down upon them.

Davis and Castle got out their fragmentation grenades again, pulling away at the pins, before they chucked them at the area where the hostile vehicles were. The grenades exploded, causing a chain effect that both vehicles burst into monstrous fireballs and instantly taking out anyone within the explosions. Brooks concentrated his fire from inside the chopper, on the new wave of enemy foot mobiles that tried to surge from the dwellings on the side of the road opposite of Davis. He managed to mow down several gunmen on the ground, some of them with their arms and legs being blown off from the force of the heavy rounds raining down on them. The team leader then focused on an incoming cargo truck that came towards the direction of the sports utility vehicle. Davis heard a loud explosion from beneath the brick wall as he withstood the ground shaking close to him, before he popped out of cover to find the cargo truck now in flaming and smouldering ruins.

Without warning, a hostile rifleman approached Davis from behind, his firearm drawn out. Davis suddenly turned around to face the gunman about to open fire, before he heard a blustering gunshot coming from behind the man. The masked gunman collapsed down on his stomach, as Davis could see smoke billowing off from the barrel of Castle's sniper rifle. He stared blankly at him for a moment, before he quickly peeked around the corner and fired his P.D.W. from the hip, shooting down the remaining gunmen that tried to approach them from behind. One of the gunmen fired at Davis, who jostled his aim as he returned fire, the bullets striking the groin area of the gunman as he screamed in pain before collapsing face-first and dying.

With the last hostile gunman cleared out, the area around the totalled vehicle was finally secured.

"We're clear!" Brooks reported. "Move in and secure the target!"

Rushing towards the smoking S.U.V. that was now on its roof, Davis approached the door of the vehicle, before he pulled away at it. Inside the vehicle was a veiled woman in her early-30s, laid flat on her back, on top of the ceiling of the car and was knocked unconscious from the wreck. Davis discovered what appeared to be a smartphone that was sitting next to her unconscious body, taking it before he passed it to the team leader who was now with him.

"We got her!" Davis confirmed. "She's out, but alive."

"Command, Spartan," Brooks communicated. "Target is secured!"

"_Roger, Spartan," _the head operator replied. _"Bring her in."_

Davis stared at the unconscious woman inside the vehicle, before he looked up at the transport chopper hovering above the crash site.

_**To be continued in PHASE-06: "The Far-Reaching Depths".**_

* * *

**NEW TECHNOLOGY  
****__****H.A.R.O. (Hover-land Advanced Robotic Operative) Drone (ZAFT)  
****NEW FEATURE**

******Sonic Pulse** **–** In the H.A.R.O.'s land configuration, the drone is able to deploy an electromagnetic pulse that will disable any electronic devices within a 15-metre radius. The sonic pulse weapon can also be used to stun any nearby hostiles within the radius of the weapon being deployed.

* * *

**And that's it for this chapter! I know, it's not as long as the previous few were, but it can also be considered the most-detailed in terms of descriptions and whatnot. A few notes to make about this chapter, from start to end:**

**Firstly, who knew Franco could be that pissed off when deprived of so much sleep? That, and what he had been through during the past few missions as part of Team Spartan.**

**Secondly, and here's the big part about it—Davis has unlocked what appeared to be a second ability when in Advanced SEED mode. Building further on the explanation behind SEED+ Mode, individuals who activate it are able to have three different abilities, and they are unlocked by "stages". The first stage is the ability that is used right when the individual enters SEED+ Mode, with the second stage allowing for a different ability to be used. In the case of this chapter, Davis entered SEED+ Mode on the first stage with time and motion slowing down around him (bullet-time, or I should call it, "Reflex Mode"), before he entered the second stage with the ability to increase strength and agility past maximum levels as he encountered his enemies in close-quarters. Each stage is marked visually by a gleaming thin white line that extends from an individual's pupils, with three lines next to each other representing the third stage ability being unlocked. As I've stated before, each ability has a lasting effect that is limited more than the original SEED mode.**

**Thirdly, the mission that Team Spartan undertook in this chapter is based off of the "Tiger Dust" mission in **_**Future Soldier**_**, where the Ghosts had to capture an arms smuggler in Pakistan.**

**And lastly, I know…"That's not cool, Davis. You don't shoot a guy in the dick!" If South Park had ever taught me anything, it would be that. It may be unnecessary, but I wanted to fit that reference right in there, in its ever subtle form.**

**In just a couple of the chapters, the story will pick up even further, and the antagonists will be revealed by the end of the seventh chapter. This will precede what will be even bigger that will happen in the eighth chapter. Until then, stay tuned for more!**


	10. PHASE-06: The Far-Reaching Depths

**Author's Note: **Hey guys, and welcome again for another new chapter of GSR! I have not much to say about this chapter, other than the fact that this chapter will be highly action-packed in Team Spartan's latest adventures in finding out who (or what) is responsible for the deaths of Team Roman. Enjoy this new chapter!

* * *

**Voltage Axe Presents**

_**Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Reflex**_

**PHASE-06: The Far-Reaching Depths**

* * *

**February 12, C.E. 93  
****Kola Peninsula, Russia, Eurasian Federation  
****1145 Hours**

The skies were of grayish-blue, with gusting winds harshly blowing white flaky dusts of snow all over the icy terrain, with temperatures having dipped far below the freezing point for this climate in particular. With all of the blinding blasts of white dustings all over the wide, open area, visibility was a slight concern for the four Specters who were clad in weather-appropriate gear, as all of them stood by what appeared to be a large, hulking mass of metal that also sat idle. Franco, sporting a specialized fur cap and cold-weather goggles, tapped on the eyepiece of the metallic machine before swiping to the right with his finger as he calibrated the idle contraption.

He turned to Davis, who was behind him and to his right, as he continued to swipe through the options displayed on the eyepiece. "You sure we gotta do this?"

"Unless you want it to think you're a target," Davis quipped amusingly.

Franco then tapped once on the screen before punching in a combination of numbers on a virtual keypad to activate the unit.

"Only ZAFT would pay a whole lot of mil for a freakin' babysitter," Franco snidely remarked as he punched in a final button before completely activating the machine, turning to Davis again. "Well, after you, precious!"

Davis walked over towards the front of the unit, before he stopped and faced the machine's eyepiece.

"Leung," he identified himself to the machine. "Verification code: Tango Mike Lima six seven."

The eyepiece zoomed in on him as he recited his verification code loud and clearly, the word "GRANTED" popping up on its screen under his last name and verification code. The eyepiece then focused in on another Spartan, the team leader of the group now facing towards the machine.

"Brooks. Verification code: Bravo Foxtrot one four two."

The machine picked up his speech and voice crystal-clear, as it flashed the word "GRANTED" on its screen. Castle then walked over to the machine, as he identified himself in front of its eyepiece.

"Castle," he calmly recited. "Verification code: Golf Sierra Delta zero four."

The machine recognized the Spartan successfully, just as Franco slowly paced over to the machine while he cockily stared at its eyepiece.

"I'm gonna try it," he grinned pretentiously as he turned to the others before turning back to its eyepiece. "Hey, big guy! Queen of Spain!"

The machine had mistakenly identified him as that, on the screen, displaying the word "ERROR" underneath the verification code that remained unrecognizable. A mechanical growl erupted from the large contraption, as it menacingly moved towards Franco, who was now startled at its sudden hostility and began to back away from it.

"Whoa, whoa! Hey, hey, hey!" He panicked and extended his open palm out at the machine, before he stumbled trying to identify himself with the actual verification code he had. "Um, verification code: Mike Sierra Golf seven niner!"

The beast of a mechanical contraption had slowed to a stop, as it flashed "GRANTED" on the screen instead of "ERROR".

Franco gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, _Haumea!_"

He then paused for a moment, only to realize what he had done.

"Damn it," he turned to Davis and Castle who were now laughing at him. "I said _'Queen'_, didn't I?"

"That's your name from now on!" Castle jeered at Franco.

All Franco could do, was to lower his rifle down and to bow his head down in embarrassment, as the idle machine watched on.

* * *

"_Mariya Volkov," Commander Kira Yamato identified. "Former Eurasian intelligence. She's connected all over the place, so it'll take some time to unravel who she's really working for. But none of the options look good."_

_He continued. "Russia's the last place any of us wanted to be. But we go where we're sent, and this is where the trail leads."_

"_From what we got out of her, Volkov's people have been using a derelict weather station near the Norwegian border as a staging area," Kira explained. "The station's in two distinct sections. That's all we know."_

"_Anything else your team finds helps us find out what's behind it," the commander directed. "So, gather intel on the facility. Then, bring it down. Hard. For further information on the equipment you will use, our chief designer will explain for you."_

"_Thank you very much, Commander," Evegniy Mudrov responded. "In base terms, the Combat Rover's self-propelled mobile artillery, is tough enough to take cover behind and packing enough firepower to take out most enemy positions."_

_The chief designer then explained further. "Now, I must warn you about the use of E.M.P. grenades. We're still not sure if your gear is 100 percent E.M.P. hardened. One of these grenades will temporarily fry any electronics in its pulse radius. Use them at the right time, and the enemy's blind. Good luck out there, Team Spartan!"_

* * *

**February 12, C.E. 93  
****Kola Peninsula, Russia, Eurasian Federation  
****1330 Hours**

Four shadowy figures moved through ankle-deep snow, with the winds blasting through in blinding, wintry conditions they endured. Those shadowy figures were revealed as the four Spartans, who were clad in their usual combat gear, as they paced their way through the icy lands of the Russian Arctic. Behind the four Specters, as the group walked in a square-like formation, a four-legged beast of metallic machinery known as the Combat Rover had followed them at the same pace as they were. Castle turned his head back to the machine that followed them, before he focused back and continued walking along with the group.

"Stick close to the Combat Rover," team leader Brooks instructed. "We don't wanna get separated out here."

"Speak for yourself!" Franco remarked.

Castle could give a quiet laugh in response. "Twenty bucks says at some point during this mission," he gruffly quipped, "you're gonna be hiding behind that thing."

Franco turned to Castle. "Hey, if it draws fire, great! Just means I won't have to shoot it myself."

The powerful winds kicked up even further in the midst of the snowstorm, causing Davis to fend off the incoming blasts of white powdery streams by extending his forearm out while looking down. The Combat Rover then began to move at its own pace, passing by the squad to its right before it went ahead of them.

"Visibility's almost zero," Franco noted of the sheer blankness in front of their view, and all around them.

"Better for us than it is for them," Brooks responded. "Switch to magnetics!"

All four of the Spartans, including Davis, then switched to the magnetic optics through their visors. The Combat Rover was quite visible in front of them, as they followed the mobile artillery unit towards their objective. The winds continued to blow harshly all around, as the four-legged machine continued its way through with the team behind it. They neared what appeared to be a small outpost to their right that was purposed for the hostiles that they would encounter soon enough.

"One hostile, rifleman," Castle spotted off to his right.

"Where do you see him?" Franco asked.

"On the right."

Davis proceeded to cut to his right, before he rushed over to take cover behind a row of wooden fences that were situated by the icy wall portion of a snowdrift. His internal camouflage activated as he crouched and paused, Davis popped out and saw in the near distance, a hostile male wielding a semi-automatic machine rifle next to a tall floodlight.

Castle peered closely before he spotted more hostiles ahead from his position. "There's two more."

"Where are they?" Brooks asked him.

"To the left."

After Davis e-tagged the rifleman by the floodlight, he slowly made his way further down while against the fencing by the snowdrift.

"They got a transport here," he noticed a cargo truck that was backing up with another rifleman beside it and an armoured 4WD.

Tagging the man by the armoured vehicle, Davis then focused on the driver inside the cargo truck before he also tagged him as well. As Brooks, Franco, and Castle got into their positions and lined up their shots, Davis quickly gave the go-ahead to open fire. As a rifleman disembarked from the back of the cargo truck, he heard a pained groan coming from the driver, before coming around from the back and having witnessed the dying man collapsing out from the driver-side door of the truck. He rushed over to the body and saw a few bullet holes that riddled his back, before he began hollering out loudly in Russian.

"Open fire!" Brooks yelled as the team moved in on the small outpost.

Franco rushed from the rifleman's left, before firing his personal defence weapon that killed the hostile male as he tried to draw out his firearm. Brooks advanced forward towards the left side of the outpost, before he saw another hostile gunman emerge from a trailer and fired at him. Dodging the bullets that came his way, Brooks immediately took cover behind the armoured vehicle, before he returned fire. Davis also shot at the gunman as he advanced towards the trailer that was ahead of two cargo trucks parked next to each other. Reloading the clip of his weapon, Brooks popped out from his cover again, and fired at the remaining hostile who peeked out too early from his cover. The man went down on his back, with blood pouring onto the snowy grounds.

Davis quickly took cover behind one of the parked trucks, exerting his breaths heavily. "That wasn't so bad."

He paused for a moment to catch his breath, before he checked his corners. "They probably weren't expecting anyone to find 'em out here," Davis noted. "This might be easier than we thought."

Franco groaned out. "Aw man, why would you say that? Now you _know _it won't be!"

The whole team regrouped by the Combat Rover that stopped dead in its tracks, before it began moving back to life again. The Spartans continued to follow the large, hulking machine as it treaded forward towards their next destination. As they journeyed through for several more metres, Franco could notice that the blasting winds were beginning to die down, and the blanketing snow all around them had started to let off.

"Storm's easing up," Franco noticed. "Watch your sightlines, fellas."

As the winds gradually calmed to the point where blasts of snow were reduced to light dustings all over the area, the four Spartans deactivated the magnetic optics through their visors. Once they passed by a wooden fence, the whole squad began to rush forward before they took cover behind fencing that was covered with two large and rectangular strips of metal. The fencing was situated at the edge of a cliff that overlooked a larger outpost that accommodated more hostile riflemen, as well as heavier weaponry around.

Franco peeked out to survey the area in front of his eyes. "We've got contact," he spotted. "Looks like a motor pool, and…they've got a tank."

"Can't leave that sitting around," Brooks remarked as Davis tagged three riflemen at the outpost. "Bring the mortar online, and take care of it."

Davis nodded. "Roger that!"

With a few taps of the touch buttons located on the top-end of his left metallic gauntlet, Davis was able to control the ground combat drone wirelessly. Through his visor, he guided the landing curve from the Combat Drone's heads-up display, before settling it on the tank that had now stopped by a portable building of the outpost. Davis then signalled to the other Spartans who had their sights now trained on the three riflemen from afar.

"Fire on my go," he quietly prepared them. "3…2…"

The three hostile men wielding their rifles stood around in silence, watching their surroundings before they were struck by small and sharp, metallic projectiles that passed through their skulls. All of them collapsed and flopped down on the snow-covered grounds of ice, with the linear tank turning its cannon around to find out where the shots had come from. Before the men inside the tank could even pinpoint where the assailants were, a whistling noise came from the air that started to turn even louder, as a few 81mm shells began to rain down on the unsuspected hostile vehicle. The shells slammed down on top of the main battle tank, several explosions going off, before an enormous fireball erupted from where the tank was. The blast was ground-shaking, sending several pieces of the tank flying everywhere, as the hostile vehicle was now nothing more than burnt-out scrap metal that smouldered away.

Davis surveyed the damage the mortars had caused, before he reacted. "That was badass!"

Franco scoffed. "I don't know why they had to send _us _along with it," he jokingly stated.

Suddenly, shouts and roars of anger came from down below, as Castle could see the remaining hostile riflemen rush out from the other structures of the outpost. They all rushed out, before spotting the Spartans up at the top of the hill, with a few of them firing their rifles right away. Castle and Franco managed to crouch themselves down behind the metal-plated barricades in time, as bullets struck and bounced off the plates that were now dented.

Brooks popped out to return fire on the gunmen that scrambled to positions. "Hostiles, 12 o'clock!" He blared out.

Castle and Franco then peeked out from their covers, also returning fire on the hostile foot mobiles that also exchanged fire with them.

"Hostile's moving towards the sandbags!" Castle spotted.

"Suppressing!" Franco added, continuously firing away at his assault rifle.

Taking cover behind the metal-plated fence, Davis focused in on the Combat Rover's camera feed, as he began to direct the targeting line of its mortar weapons system towards the riflemen who were out in the open. He moved the landing curve around while tapping on the button every time he landed the curve on a hostile, for the mortar rounds to be fired on. The 81mm shells rained down everywhere at the outpost, obliterating a hostile gunman who was by a skid full of sandbags. Another rifleman was thrown aback violently by a powerful blast from one of the shells that shattered every bone of his body. Two more men were instantly vaporized when a shell that was fired from the drone ended up landing directly right on top of their heads. The few remaining gunmen who continued to exchange fire with the Spartans were then picked off by both Castle and Franco.

Brooks peeked out from his cover again after having reloaded his weapon, only to find a couple of vehicles approaching the outpost from his left. An armoured 4WD with a cargo truck right behind it entered the camp from its north-west.

"Reinforcements inbound!" The team leader barked out. "Take 'em out before they close!"

Davis quickly guided the landing curve of the ground drone towards the attacking 4WD, as its mounted gunner fired away at the Spartans behind cover. With the tap of the button, a mortar shell fired from the back-end of the Combat Rover, before the shell landed on top of the moving vehicle. The armoured 4WD immediately exploded into a fireball, the sheer force of the impact launching the vehicle from its rear wheels, before it landed hard on its roof.

"More hostiles, inbound!" Castle bellowed, as the cargo truck skidded to a stop behind the flaming wreckage of the armoured vehicle.

Hostile riflemen emerged from the back of the truck quickly, just as Davis guided the firing line of the Combat Rover towards it. Two mortar rounds were fired from the drone, as one landed onto a couple of foot mobiles close by the back-end of the vehicle, before they were thrown back in the air with their bodies slamming down to the ground hard. The other landed directly on the cargo truck, before the vehicle was also turned into a flaming mess of debris following a huge mass of fire that shot up into the air. Another armoured 4WD came into the outpost the same way the other two vehicles had entered, with another cargo truck in tow.

"Straight ahead!" Franco shouted, before he began firing at the incoming vehicles.

Davis moved the firing curve of the mortar system towards the moving 4WD, as it diverted from the cargo truck before it had even entered the campsite. He fired a mortar round from the Combat Rover, before he focused in on the cargo truck that was about to enter the area. The 81mm shell fired first had landed square on the armoured 4WD that came towards the direction of the Spartans, with a massive explosion that ensued and had sent debris everywhere in the flames and smoke. The other mortar round fired afterward, had ended up striking the cargo truck as it stopped before the north-west entrance of the campsite, before a huge fireball tore up the vehicle and fatally immolating any occupants that were inside.

Once there were no more hostiles that were around the area, the whole squad had assumed that the area was finally secure. Franco moved over towards the fence where Davis was at, crouching right beside him.

"'_This might be easier than we thought'_," Franco mocked him sarcastically.

"Well, maybe the snow muffled the noise!" Davis shot back mildly, unimpressed at Franco.

"Form up on the Rover," Brooks commanded, "let's keep moving!"

Davis noticed that the Combat Rover had already began moving by itself, having marched down a descending slope from the hill that led to the campsite itself at the lower level. He took point as the Spartans followed the four-legged drone down the slope, before taking cover behind the machine while moving as loud gunshots rang out from the distance. A few bullet rounds struck the snowy grounds right in front of the Spartans as they returned fire at a lone gunman who remained in the far distance. Emerging off from the Combat Rover, Davis quickly took cover behind the back of a scrapped-out armoured 4WD, before he set the firing line of the mortar weapons system on the man besides a skid full of crates. A shell was fired in the air from the back of the drone, before it fell on the gunman, the explosion and shrapnel instantly killing the hostile.

With all of their camouflage systems up, the Spartans continued to follow the ground combat drone as it made its way through the chaotic aftermath that littered all over the grounds of the outpost. Passing by a decapitated body of a hostile militant lying on the ground, Davis could see the smouldering vehicles that continued to be set ablaze, having witnessed the almighty power of what militarized technology was capable of. Castle could spot expressionlessly, a few slain assailants piled together into a bloody heap, before he passed by the charred remains of an armoured 4WD. Franco peered around silently, having seen a couple of dead hostiles with a couple of limbs separated away from their corpses clad in arctic-patterned uniforms. Streaks of crimson-red covered the grounds of snowy white near a cargo truck that already had burnt away into ruins, before the drone led the group past a few lifeless bodies that were charred off from the impact of the explosions.

The Combat Rover had then led them away from the outpost, following through the north-west entrance and down the way the hostile vehicles had entered the campsite. They followed it down a path that curved slightly to the left, before Davis could notice a familiar line of structures in the far distance ahead to its right.

"Visual on the commo array," he confirmed.

"Take it down!" Brooks ordered.

Taking cover behind the wooden fences that lined the edge of the curved path by the snowdrifts, Davis tapped onto a different touch button on his left gauntlet, before he brought up a large metallic warhead that fired from the back of the drone and at a 45-degree angle. Using the camera feed of the guided missile, Davis carefully directed the warhead, as it travelled straight past a narrow gap in-between two icy mountains. As the missile passed through the gap, he directed it upward, before the large warhead had struck one of the rounded satellite antennas of the towering communications array. A trembling explosion ensued, followed by many loud groans and creaks as the structure of the tower began to give way, before it had collapsed.

"Alright," Franco remarked as he witnessed the tower collapsing into a pile. "That was effective!"

A tremendous bang erupted like dynamite as the structure crashed down heavily, before it had sent a massive blast of snow and ice in waves towards the path in front of the Spartans.

"Command, Spartan," Brooks communicated over the radio. "Forward base comms are down."

"_Copy that, Spartan," _the head operator acknowledged. _"That should cut 'em off from the outside world."_

Once the heavy dustings of flaky ice and snow began to settle into lighter dustings, the Spartans began to slowly continue down the same path they were on, with the Combat Rover leading the way.

"After we hit the forward base, we'll move on to the second target," Brooks instructed the team. "We're gonna have to secure a boat to get there."

"What, the bot don't transform into one?" Franco quipped. "What's this thing good for?"

As they made their way towards a bend of the path that curved to the right, Castle could see an open garage-like space embedded underneath the sloping hills that were about 10 metres ahead. Suddenly, he could hear the engines of a few vehicles coming towards his direction from the right. Off of his right, a hostile armoured 4WD raced down a slope of the snowy hills, with two cargo trucks following behind it. The four Spartans immediately took cover behind the fences that lined the curve by the snowdrifts, just as the 4WD skidded to a stop with the mounted gunner firing down on the Specters.

With the combat ground drone behind them, Davis took control of its mortar firing systems again, with the young Spartan controlling the firing curve towards the attacking vehicle. Tapping on the button, a mortar shell was fired from the drone's back end, before it landed onto the vehicle. A massive ball of fire erupted from the hostile vehicle, flames shooting up in the air like a geyser, as the other two cargo trucks careened around the flaming 4WD. Davis directed the firing line again, this time towards the cargo truck that was in front of the other. The Combat Rover fired off another mortar round, with the shell travelling all the way that landed on top of the truck's hood, the ensuing blast forcing the vehicle to lift from its back-wheels first and flipping over onto its side. Its gas tank ruptured from the impact of the crash, causing the vehicle to explode into two large fireballs that fatally immolated every occupant inside right away. The other cargo truck spun violently to a stop, before it too, was targeted by the ground drone. An 81mm shell struck the back-end of the vehicle, as the truck exploded and was set ablaze, the intense flames burning the occupants of the vehicle as they scrambled out screaming before succumbing to the severe burns all over their bodies.

Brooks whipped around to the left as he moved, before he saw another armoured 4WD coming down from the sloping path to the left of the garage, with a few other riflemen rushing along the vehicle. Castle and Franco followed him.

"Hostile light truck!" The team leader shouted, before all three of them fired at the hostiles in their differing positions.

With the Combat Rover advancing towards the entrance of the area, Davis followed it before he hid behind the ground drone, as he directed the firing line at the hostile truck that had now stopped near a portable building and the three Spartans attacking it. The combat ground drone launched another mortar round at the vehicle while the mounted gunner was busy firing at the three Spartans that dodged its bullet rounds as they took cover. The metallic shell struck the vehicle instantly, before the 4WD burst into a large ball of fire that spewed shrapnel and debris everywhere in the air.

"Enemy reinforcements inbound!" Castle spotted a few assailants climbing down from a cliff to his left, along with another hostile 4WD that came from the same path as the last one.

Brooks and Franco fired down on the hostile riflemen that were in front of the storage space, picking them off one-by-one. Davis, crouching behind the wooden fences, guided the firing curve of the Combat Rover towards the armoured vehicle first, before he directed it towards the riflemen that were about to come down from the cliffs. A few mortar shells were fired, the first shell instantly landing on the 4WD with a hard impact, destroying the vehicle with a fiery explosion. Three more shells had landed onto the hostile men that had just touched the ground, the ensuing blasts sending their corpses flying into the air and hard onto the cold grounds.

"More hostiles, 3 o'clock!" Franco shouted, as he saw a few more riflemen coming down from the sloping path to the left of the garage.

Castle then noticed a hostile foot mobile coming from the top of one of the higher-elevated hills to his left, drawing out a rocket launcher.

"R.P.G.! WATCH IT!"

The hostile militant launched a mini-warhead that zoomed towards the Spartans on the ground. Franco and Brooks managed to move out of the way in time, as the rocket round slammed into a skid full of oil drums near the portable building. The ensuing explosion ripped part of the building's walls and rocked the ground, as Davis directed the firing line at the man with the rocket launcher. A mortar shell blasted from the back of the Combat Rover made its way towards the hostile with the R.P.G., just as he was about to fire again. The powerful impact of the shell's detonation sent the charred militant flying off from the top of the hill. Davis continued to guide the Combat Rover's firing curve towards the attacking riflemen that were now in front of the storage space, sending another two shells that wiped out five militants in the process.

"We got more inbound!" Brooks barked out, as he saw an armoured 4WD coming down from the sloping hill before slowing to a stop on top of the garage.

Castle and Franco fired at the hostile gunmen that rushed along with the hostile vehicle, before Davis fired another shell from the Combat Rover. The mortar round instantly struck away at the attacking vehicle, before it erupted into an explosion of flames that claimed the foot mobiles around it. Suddenly, a couple of more hostiles rushed towards to the top of an overhanging hill high up to the right of the storage space. An armoured 4WD reached to the edge, before its mounted gunner fired from above, while another foot mobile with a rocket launcher appeared to the truck's right.

"Hostile's got an R.P.G.!"

"12 O'CLOCK!"

Ducking behind the ground drone, Davis directed the firing curve at the narrow gap between the two hostiles, before he sent another mortar round flying in the air right at them. The gunman with the rocket launcher saw the shell coming towards him, as he shouted in Russian before he began to run off to his left. The mortar round landed directly on him, before the ensuing detonation had also sent the armoured vehicle flying off the edge with sheer force, the 4WD dropping straight down to the ground hard on its back. As the remaining hostile was cleared out with a bang, the Spartans checked around the area again for a few moments.

"Alright," Castle panted as he refilled the ammunition on his firearm. "We're good."

The Combat Rover then kept on moving by itself, with the whole Specter team following the four-legged drone up the slope to the left of the storage space. They passed by a couple of burnt-out 4WDs that were destroyed in the wake of the battle, before hiking up the slope and continuing their way towards the path now in between walls of ice and snow. As the path slightly curved to the left, Davis saw another incoming hostile 4WD headed their way as he crouched and moved behind the Combat Rover.

"Chew him up!" Franco yelled.

Davis fired a mortar shell from the back of the drone as the 4WD skidded to a stop. The shell sailed up in the air before it landed and struck the side of the vehicle, the direct impact causing the armoured car to erupt into a massive inferno and launching debris everywhere. The Combat Rover stopped for a moment, just as the Spartans caught up to it from behind.

"Keep your eyes open, gentlemen," Brooks advised. "We don't want to bring the place down until we know more about their operations."

The combat ground drone then moved around the obliterated armoured car that was now on fire, before it advanced further as it reached the entrance of a much larger base of operations. The foot soldiers stationed within the base were alerted immediately by the Combat Rover's noisy entry, as they began rushing from the barracks and other facilities within the forward operating base. Angry shouts in Russian erupted in the cold air, before multiple bursts of gunfire followed it as the hostile foot mobiles began firing at the hulking mass of destructive metal that entered the garrison. Franco, Brooks, and Castle pushed forward as they rushed into the base, before they split off into different positions behind different covers.

"Cover me, I'm moving!" Franco shouted, as he quickly moved towards the side of a facility nearby.

The three Spartans ahead of Davis exchanged fire with the regiment of hostile troops coming their way, as the young Spartan took cover behind a wall of sandbags to the left of the road entering the base. He enabled the mortar weapons system on board the Combat Rover, just as a hostile militant emerged from a watchtower, armed with a rocket launcher.

"R.P.G.! Watch it!" Brooks bellowed out loudly, as the man fired a mini-warhead from the shoulder-mounted weapon.

The rocket round narrowly missed a couple of Spartans, namely Brooks and Castle, and had also just missed the Combat Rover that was still mobile. Through his visor, Davis tracked the firing line of the drone towards the man at the watchtower before firing off an 81mm shell. The mortar round flew in the air before it landed directly on where the Russian militant was standing, the enormous blast blowing off a large chunk of the watchtower's quarters and sending the slain hostile flying off from the top. At the same time, Castle and Brooks had taken advantage of the Combat Rover as additional cover, as they managed to pick off the riflemen that charged towards them. Franco popped out from the corner of the facility and fired down on a couple of hostile combatants that emerged from their positions, gunning them down before he noticed a sight in the far-distance.

"Enemy bird's still on the ground," he noted to the rest.

Brooks fired another few bursts of his rifle, before he ducked behind a wall of sandbags.

"Let's keep it that way," The team leader responded, as he quickly replaced the used magazine with a new one.

Davis then vaulted over the wall of sandbags before he paced over to his right, vaulting over a wall of sandbags near the other side of the road, before he joined his squad-mates. Sneaking by the wall of sandbags, Davis peeked his head out for a moment as he could see the shape of a helicopter in the far distance. Ducking down again, he tapped on a button that sent a guided missile launching from the Combat Rover, before he directed the missile towards the attack helicopter that was sitting at a helipad. The direct impact from the missile destroyed the chopper in a tremendous explosion that sent large pieces of it flying everywhere.

"Alright!" Brooks shouted as he heard the heavy bang from the distance. "Stay focused, let's finish this!"

Another large group of Russian militants rushed from their right, scrambling towards different positions, as they opened fire at the Spartans behind the sandbags. The Spartans returned fire at them, with Davis getting out his personal defence rifle and opening fire on the first few men he saw.

Castle peeked out and fired a sniper round that shattered a rifleman's skull. "Got one!"

"Got him pinned!" Brooks yelled hoarsely, as he focused his fire on a militant trapped behind the corner of a few boxes.

"Hostiles, 12 o'clock!" Franco blared, as he continued to fire upon a few Russian gunmen charging from the right.

A couple of gunmen popped out from their covers, before they were instantly picked off by bursts of machine-gun fire.

"Hostiles are down!"

Davis took control of the ground drone again, before he rained down on the surging attackers with a few mortar rounds propelled from the back of the battling machine. A couple of the shells landed on the positions where the remaining riflemen were, tearing apart three men that hid behind the crates and boxes. Another five men were caught in one of the mortar shells that landed straight on them, as their decimated bodies flew in the air from the monstrous impact of the blast. As soon as there were no more foot mobiles advancing in front of them, the Spartans continued to push forward into the base. Davis rushed towards a skid full of boxes secured with tie-down straps, with Brooks beside him to his right. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, Davis could see a heavy cannon round hurtling towards them, about to strike the red gas canisters leaning on the skid of boxes to its left.

In a split second, Davis pushed the team leader out of the way while he dove to his left, avoiding the massive explosions as the cannon round struck the red metallic canisters. Both of them got up right away, before they split off from each other, with Davis having taken cover behind a side of the skid of boxes. He checked his corners, just before he could make out a hostile vehicle coming towards the team from the left.

"Watch it, A.P.C.!" Brooks identified as he peered around from a corner. "Get to cover!"

The hostile attack-personnel carrier moved forward down the road, firing off the 30 mm rounds from its cannon at the two Spartans that hanged behind Brooks and Davis. Castle and Franco quickly moved away from its line of fire, as they dashed from cover-to-cover. Machine-gun fire bombarded Davis as he took cover behind the skid of boxes, as a few hostile riflemen fired from the sidelines, with the young Spartan firing back blindly from the corner of the cover. Franco emerged from the side of a building, before he opened fire and shot dead a riflemen through his torso and abdomen.

"Hostile down!"

Castle popped out quickly and sniped away at another foot soldier's head, blood gushing away from the exit wound.

"Hit him hard while we got him rattled!" Castle shouted over to Davis.

Davis then guided the firing line of the Combat Rover, before he landed it directly at the moving assault vehicle. Five mortar shells whistled in the air, before they hit their mark, striking down on the attack-personnel carrier five times. The hostile vehicle then exploded into a massive fireball shooting outward, sending a couple of flaming tires flying off, while thick black smoke billowed from the intense flames shooting up high in the sky.

"Get on 'em, make 'em mad!" Franco screamed, after seeing the A.P.C. getting destroyed.

Shout and yells of Russian came from ahead, as the four Spartans began to move up again. Brooks and Franco rushed and fired at the few riflemen that came from their right, clipping them down. Castle quickly took cover behind the corner of a facility, before he popped out and fired off a sniper round that struck through the heads of two hostiles that were in front of the other. Davis continued to fire off a few mortar rounds from the Combat Rover as he rushed over towards a couple of large, metallic boxes. The 81mm shells splashed all over the areas in front of the Spartans, instantly wiping a group of four riflemen that charged from the left. Another three riflemen were caught by a shell striking a skid full of gas canisters nearby, the force of the blasts killing the men straight away.

Franco fired multiple bursts of his assault rifle, the bullets shredding through an assailant that mindlessly emerged away from a stack of metal crates.

"Hostile down!"

Abruptly, a militant emerged from the top of a watchtower and drew out a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher.

"R.P.G.!" Castle screamed.

Brooks spun around. "Where?!"

The man fired off a mini-warhead that zoomed towards Castle ahead of the hiding Davis, as the Englishman managed to roll away from the rocket round as it slammed into the ground and exploded, the force of the impact rattling Davis from behind the boxes.

Castle focused in on the hostile militant and fired. "The tower!"

"Finish him, come on!" Brooks hollered out at his loudest.

Standing his ground, Davis immediately directed the firing line towards the man on top of the watchtower, before sending a mortar round towards it. The 81mm shell hurtled upward in the air, before it came back down and landed straight at the man standing on the tower. A powerful explosion tore through the quarters of the watchtower, sending large chunks of debris everywhere, and obliterating the male that stood on top of that tower.

"That cleared 'em out!" Davis remarked as he popped his head out.

He then vaulted over the boxes, before rushing forward towards another skid full of secured boxes. Shots continued to rang out through the air, as Brooks and the two other Spartans exchanged fire with the remaining units of hostile riflemen at the northern point of the base.

"Heads up, 3 o'clock!"

"Moving to cover!"

Davis peeked out from the left side of his cover, only to see one of the hostile gunmen shouting in Russian before tossing an armed flash grenade at the Spartan.

"Flash-bang, watch out!" Franco shouted at Davis as he rushed towards another skid of boxes behind the other.

Davis quickly whipped his head around to the right, looking directly at the boxes as he was partially blinded by the flash grenade going off near him. Franco then peeked out from the corner of his cover, before firing at the militants taking cover behind the sandbags. Davis also drew out his rifle and began firing as well, clipping down one of the men who rushed out from a wall of sandbags. With the Combat Rover in position, Davis put away his rifle against the side of the boxes for a moment, before he began to direct more mortar strikes on the few hostiles that remained in the way. One-by-one, the 81mm shells were launched from the back of the drone, hurtling in the air before splashing down on the intended targets.

Two riflemen were launched in the air from one of the blasts the mortar rounds made upon impact, while another blast claimed the life of another gunman who was behind a stack of boxes. Three more shells rained down on the men ahead of Davis, one of them striking a few gas canisters and oil drums, the massive fireballs engulfing four unsuspected militants nearby. The diversion had allowed Franco, Brooks, and Castle to move in and take down the rest of the hostile men who were in front of their path. Without warning, an armoured military vehicle came barrelling towards them from the connected road in the northern direction ahead. It skidded to a stop before its mounted gunner began firing at the squad.

"Hostile light truck!" Brooks barked out. "Get to cover!"

With his camouflage activated on his suit, Davis looked around from the corner of the boxes, before he emerged out and began to direct the firing line of the mortar systems towards the 4WD. The Combat Rover fired off a few mortar rounds at the military vehicle, before all three rounds struck the armoured car consecutively, as it exploded into an intense fireball before burning up in heavy clouds of smoke.

The area finally secure, Brooks communicated to the head operator. "Command, Spartan. Forward base is secure. We're moving on."

"_Roger that, Spartan," _the head operator replied.

In the midst of the eerily silence that now flooded the air, with the exception of crackles and pops coming from the flames that surrounded the battle-ravaged base, the Spartans held their ground for a moment before they began moving again with the drone moving right behind them. Passing by the gutted remains of the militarized 4WD, the squad of four moved slowly towards what appeared to be the docks of the base. There were a couple of empty boats stationed by the snow-covered docks.

"Well," Franco quipped. "At least we don't have to swim."

Davis shot back at him, irritant in his tone. "If we let you drive, will you quit bitching?"

"Maybe..." Franco paused as he approached the vehicle. "Get in the boat."

* * *

As the Spartans settled in at one of the boats that were by the docks, Davis led the Combat Rover onto it, before he directed it towards the inside of a spacious compartment that perfectly fit the size of the hulking drone. Using his hand signals, Davis led the drone in slowly before he directed it to fully stop with his forearms crossed in an "X"-shaped position. Castle then manoeuvred around the drone, before he patted a hand down on the young Spartan's shoulder.

"This place is awfully active for a 'derelict' station", Davis noted.

Castle agreed as he began to sit down on a leather-top bench. "Yeah, and that was just the forward base."

"This is the recon part of the job, gentlemen," Brooks commented as he sat on the bench opposite of Castle. "Eyes in the sky can't see everything."

"It just seems like this much activity would've caught somebody's attention before now," Davis remarked.

"We've got our own share of secrets," Brooks turned to Davis. "How surprised you think the Eurasians would be if they drove out to Dulce?"

Davis sighed. "Fair enough." He paused, before taking a seat beside the team leader. "I hope that's not what we're heading into now, 'though."

"Roger that," Castle gruffly added, inspecting the current magazine loaded on his firearm. Seven bullets.

"Best to expect the worst," Brooks spoke before he paused. "…And let the Rover lead. We can replace _him_."

"He's a handy little guy," Davis remarked highly of the machine close to his left. "Not much…_little_ about him."

Castle sat up straight as he faced the two Spartans. "Alright boys, time to get your shoes on. We're at grandma's!"

"Copy," Brooks acknowledged. "First priority is to get a system dump off the mainframe. Once that's secure, we bury the place."

"Roger that," Davis confirmed as he glanced at his rifle. "Let's get to work!"

* * *

Once they arrived at the loading bay over at the next base of operations, the four Spartans began moving forward with the Combat Rover leading the way. An alarm suddenly sounded over the speakers, as a male Russian voice came on the public announcement systems all over the areas of the base. The buzzing alarm continued to blare repeatedly, as the Spartans rushed their way forward.

"I'm guessing that's not a welcome," Castle deadpanned in his snide remark.

"They're gonna lock down the base," Davis explained. "We better make it quick."

Moving down the long stretch of the walkway in the loading area, the four Spartans switched from cover-to-cover, whilst advancing forward down the stretch. As they travelled past the last few metal crates to the left that served as cover, they began moving down the path that slightly curved to the left, before they saw a few hostile militants rushing towards their way.

"Go hot!" Davis screamed, as the Spartans began firing at the first gunman they saw ahead.

The rifleman that ran in had suddenly stopped, before he was caught by several bursts of bullets that went right through him, as he collapsed down screaming and dying in a pool of blood.

"Target's down!"

"12 o'clock!" Franco shouted as spotted three more riflemen in the way. "Straight ahead!"

Using the Combat Rover's mortar systems again, Davis fired off a couple of shells that landed onto the riflemen nearing, blowing one of them off from the edge of the highly-elevated walkway. Advancing behind the Combat Rover, Davis could see what appeared to be a battleship stationed in one of the loading stations.

"Sir, that's an Earth Alliance frigate," he reported, directing the barrel end of his rifle at the escort destroyer. "Fraser-class."

"Guess they're not _all_ retired," Brooks dreaded under his breath. "I don't like where this is headed."

Shouts of Russian came from afar, as the Spartans cornered around to the right, as they trained their sights past the catwalk in between the two walkways. A large group of Russian militants rushed in from the left at the walkway opposite of the Spartans. The three Spartans began firing multiple rounds at the riflemen that charged from the left, while Davis directed the ground drone from behind it. The Combat Rover launched a series of mortar shells that landed onto the targets that were under the firing curve. Each one of the militants perished instantly under the blasts of the shells impacting them, with a slain few being launched in the air and off the walkways.

"Yeah, get on 'em! Make 'em mad!" Franco shouted again.

Following behind the Combat Rover, Davis heard and saw more gunmen coming from the doors of a long walkway that was fixed to the right side of the loading bay, and positioned higher than the walkway that Davis was now on. He began launching more mortar rounds from the Combat Rover as it continued to move down the walkway by the side of the frigate. The metallic shells ended up hitting their targets, as the militants were now exposed as they rushed into the open. Bodies flew while the Spartans caught up to Davis, as they also fired at the remaining gunmen that came from the hanging walkway to the right.

"Tear 'em apart!" Castle roared, as he aimed and fired with his rifle.

"Got one!" Brooks shouted, as he picked off one of the militants.

Davis then saw a hostile manning a mounted rotary gun further to the right, firing at the Combat Rover in multiple bursts. The bullets bouncing off the metal-plated monster of a quadruped, Davis aimed the firing curve at the man behind the mounted gun, before sending off an 81mm shell towards the target. The shell exploded, tearing apart the man and sending his burnt carcass aback and onto the steel grounds.

As the ground drone approached an intersecting path of the indoor loading bay, Davis could see a couple of riflemen emerging from the boxes on both sides at the end of the path. The Combat Rover fired off a couple of shells that landed and detonated in between the two men, sending them flying off to their demise. Another rifleman came from the right, before he was gunned down by Brooks.

"More hostiles inbound!" The team leader roared, as he saw a gaggle of six riflemen coming down from an open doorway ahead to the right.

"Rover's engaging!" Davis launched a few mortar shells from the drone in front of him, as they landed towards the moving targets rushing from the right.

A series of explosions from the shells detonating upon impact had wiped out all of the militants that rushed out into the open. Davis continued past the end of the path and had cut diagonally to the right, just as a hostile foot soldier rushed out from a doorway at a highly-elevated platform with a rocket launcher in tow.

"Watch it, watch it!" Castle screeched. "Up on the platforms!"

"Keep pushing!" Brooks ordered loudly. "Cover-to-cover!"

"Get 'em boy! GET 'EM!" Davis launched a few more mortar rounds from the moving ground drone, all of them missing the riflemen that rushed from the open doorway and continued down.

The man on the platform fired a rocket round from his shoulder-mounted weapon, just as another hostile with a rocket-launcher rushed from an open doorway at a platform located above the other. The mini-warhead narrowly missed Davis, as it slammed into a metal-plated railing near him, causing him to lose his footing for a moment before jolting back behind his cover. The three other Spartans rushed ahead of the quadruped drone and Davis, unleashing suppressive fire at the two men on the platforms as they slid behind boxes and storage crates. Training the firing curve on the hostile at the lower platform, Davis unleashed a mortar round that landed its mark, tearing the militant into pieces with a huge blast.

"Yeah, give him hell!" Brooks hollered, as he advanced and took cover again.

Caught astray by the force of the blast, the other militant with a rocket-launcher panicked and scrambled off back into the room where he came out of. Two more 81mm shells were launched at the walls of the structure, before a massive ball of fire tore apart the room and sending pieces of debris everywhere. Some of the debris nearly missed the other Spartans on the ground as they moved ahead.

"Careful with the Rover!" Brooks warned Davis. "We don't want to bring the whole place down on top of us!"

With the Combat Rover now ahead of the young Spartan, Davis moved away from his cover as he turned left before moving down the short stretch of the walkway, having caught up with the other three men in his group. The Spartans returned fire at the platoon of hostile riflemen that rushed from the left side of the loading bay. Muzzle flashes came from afar, as the Russian militants fired their semi-automatic rifles and personal defence weapons at the Spartans down at the bridging catwalk. As the Combat Rover moved in position ahead of the Spartans, the three Spartans took advantage of the cover behind the four-legged beast, advancing further and taking positions behind the steel boxes and metal-plated railings. Castle poked out from the railings, quickly taking aim through his scope before he fired his sniper rifle. The .50 caliber round travelled fast, before it punched through the forehead of an attacking gunman, passing through the back of his head with streams of blood and flesh gushing outward.

"Strike one!" Castle yelled as he ducked under.

Davis, now behind a cube-shaped ventilation unit, peeked out for a moment as he saw a steel beam that hung about a metre below the ceiling. Realizing that there was not enough clearance for the mortar rounds to be used, he quickly tapped on the button that fired off a guided missile from the Combat Rover. Steering the guided missile towards a highly-elevated platform a level above the platform from below, Davis landed it where there were five men firing from the railings of the platform. The missile exploded as it struck the platform, claiming all five gunmen in a fiery impact. He then launched another guided missile, before steering it towards the farther left-end of the platform, clearing out another four militants that tried to scramble away.

"More hostiles above!" Franco blared off, as he continued to focus his fire at the men who remained in the platforms above.

"A few more to our 3!" Castle added, as he focused in on the three men to his right.

Deploying another guided missile from the Combat Rover, Davis directed it towards the right-end of the platform, obliterating the gunmen that were still standing at the areas high-up. Brooks and Castle finished off the men that rushed on the walkways they were on, before the areas in front of them were devoid of any hostile militants in the vicinity. With the ground drone continuing its way, the Spartans followed it all the way down before they trailed behind it coming off to the right.

"Alright," Franco paused as he moved along. "That was effective!"

"Stay focused and let's finish this!" Brooks barked out.

Castle rushed ahead of the metallic quadruped, as it made its way up a short flight of stairs. A few more hostile gunmen rushed from the right of a catwalk in the far distance, before they took aim and fired brazenly at the Spartans and the Combat Rover. Another hostile took a position at the far-left end of the catwalk, where he manned a mounted rotary-gun turret and fired as well. Shielding from the heavy bursts that bounced off of the metallic exterior of the Combat Rover, Davis launched a mortar round that struck the turret with such force, that it launched the slain assailant off from it. Another couple of shells were launched, sailing towards a couple of men on the catwalk from afar, before they made their impacts. The rest of the gunmen were then picked off by both Franco and Castle, who were behind the railings of the walkway.

More hostile foot mobiles came on the grounds below the catwalk, as gunfire erupted from their positions. Brooks suppressed a few men that came from the left, before Castle and Franco took care of the few that rushed into the open. Davis had also rained down on the attackers with the mobile artillery unit behind him. 81mm shells were propelled in the air, before they splashed around the area across the watery gap below, mauling away at the overwhelmed men with powerful force. A stack of gas canisters exploded into fireballs that shot into the air, having been struck by one of the warheads.

"That was badass!" Davis repeated loudly.

A group of five more gunmen came rushing down from the middle of the area, a few of them making their way down the short flights of stairs on all three sides of the raised platform, while another two came from the far-right of the walkway across. The four Spartans took cover behind the steel-plated railings, before they popped out and fired back at the gunmen that scrambled to other positions. Castle picked off two men to his left, while Brooks and Franco clipped down a lone gunman to their right. The only gunman who remained at the far-right had started firing at Davis, who was behind one of the steel-plated covers fixed to the railings. Once the rifleman emptied his whole clip, Davis scrambled to a mounted turret that was near him, before he turned the gun towards the lone hostile and fired continuously. The heavy spray of bullets shredded through the last man standing, spurts of blood gushing out from his exit wounds, before the rifleman collapsed down on his back and lay dying instantly.

Once the area ahead was clear, all four Spartans regrouped and followed the Combat Rover that had turned to the left and followed down the walkway, before they all trekked down a ramping path towards another walkway that continued to the left.

"On approach to target," Davis noted.

"Move it, Spartans!" Brooks commanded. "We can't let 'em lock it down! Make sure it's secure."

Passing by a skid of secured stacks containing long, steel tubes, before going by a forklift, Davis took point as he led the other Spartans to the left and over another ramping catwalk up to the left side of the walkway again. The alarm continued to blare out over the speakers, as the Spartans moved down a descending slope of the walkway, before they stopped behind a pair of large bay doors. Davis continued to take point as Castle slid the left door wide open with one hand, before the other three Spartans rushed in. They surrounded the area with their rifles drawn, before they discovered that no one else was inside the large space that was full of computer equipment and other hardware.

"All clear," Davis confirmed.

"Copy," Brooks acknowledged. "Castle, Franco; security. Leung, handle the data."

Castle quickly slid the door shut, after the Combat Rover had made its way through the entrance.

"Got it," Davis affirmed.

"Roger," Franco added.

"Command, this is Spartan," the team leader communicated. "We've secured a terminal, ready to transmit. You set?"

"_Copy, Spartan," _the head operator replied as Davis located the desktop computer terminal. _"Send your traffic."_

"Sending." Davis began to tap away at the desktop computer that was already opened-up, accessing the loads of information that were vital to their investigation, before transferring them to ZAFT's military network.

"You got a read on that cache?" Brooks asked, as Castle and Franco took guard at the entrances behind him.

"_Acoustic imaging's coming back with a dark patch," _the head operator analyzed. _"Too big to be a storage facility, could be a cavern."_

"We'll check it out," Brooks responded.

"_You'll have to go topside," _the head operator explained. _"It's a hike from your current position. We'll walk you in."_

"Copy that, Command."

Davis finished transferring the multiple pieces of information, before he disconnected from the military network, and turned 'round with his rifle drawn out. He then noticed a steel-grey door with a yellow strip filled with black arrows that pointed to the left.

"The elevator?" He queried.

"At least it's not stairs," Franco remarked, as Castle punched the button beside the door.

The Combat Rover slowed to a stop behind the group, before it turned its eyepiece and focused on Franco, with Franco turning to the drone and glaring at it.

"What are you starin' at, Sparky?"

"Aww, you're gonna hurt his feelings…_your Majesty_," Davis mocked him as the door opened up for him to enter first.

Brooks chuckled for a bit as he entered in too with Castle and Franco joining him, the Combat Rover taking up most of the space within the large cab as it moved itself in.

"Tighten it up, fellas," the team leader warned lightly. "No telling what's gonna hit us when this door opens."

He then paused briefly before quipping amusedly, "….And the Spaniards will be pissed if anything happens to their 'Old Lady'."

Davis and Castle chuckled at the thought, while the elevator doors automatically slid themselves shut.

"Yeah, alright, _ha-ha_," Franco responded in his unamused tone.

After the cab of the elevator was hoisted up to a higher level of the base, the doors shifted wide open for the Spartans to part away first, with the Combat Rover now behind them.

"Here we go," Brooks breathed quietly. "Eyes up."

Through the dimly-lit interior of the garage areas, the squad of four passed through the open garage doors and back into the freezing-cold outdoors. Vaulting over a railing outside the garage areas, Davis landed onto the snowy grounds just as the loud, fluttering sounds of a helicopter's propellers passed by near him. Two helicopters flew by in the near distance, as Davis approached the next objective marked through his visor. Ahead of the unaware Spartan, a few hostile foot mobiles saw the whole squad coming down their way with the four-legged beast right behind them. Reacting fast, the riflemen shouted in angry Slavic languages before they began firing at the advancing Spartans.

"That got their attention!" Castle snidely remarked.

"Moving to cover!" Brooks shouted.

"Watch it, R.P.G.!" Franco aimed at a man stationed at the top of a watchtower. "Incoming!"

Just 45 metres away, there were two watchtowers connected to each other with a long catwalk, a hostile militant wielding a shoulder-mounted launcher had fired a mini-warhead from the left tower. The small shell zoomed towards the Spartans and narrowly missed them, as it slammed into a patch of grounded snow, sending piles of it in the air. Davis took cover behind a skid full of metal crates, as the other three Spartans rushed to different positions and exchanged fire with the attacking gunmen in front of their sights. Peeking his head out, the staff sergeant could make out four hostiles firing from behind a wall of sandbags to his left, with a mounted rotary gunner assisting behind them.

Ducking down from the bursts of gunfire that came his way, Davis quickly enacted by firing away a guided missile from the back of the Combat Rover. He steered the missile as it was up in the air, before he dropped it towards the four men that were about to flee, and the manned turret as well. The powerful blast of the missile had blown the gunmen into bloody pieces, also turning the mounted turret into pieces along with them.

"Hostiles down!"

"Targets at 9 o'clock!"

"Drop 'em!"

The Combat Rover moved up even further, as Davis continued to rain down on the large group of hostiles that scattered all over the area, launching more mortar rounds in the sky. The shells splashed all over everywhere, ground-shaking blasts that wiped out most of the men that rushed from left and right, even including the ones that the three Spartans were firing upon. Bodies flew in the air and limbs were sailing across, as another mortar shell struck a group of three men hiding behind a wall of sandbags by an arched dwelling. Finally, Davis guided one more mortar round straight at the top of the left watchtower, where the man tried to fire another rocket-propelled grenade at them. The 81mm shell viciously slammed straight at the top of the tower, instantly obliterating the man before he could get his finger on the trigger. The force of the blast tore out most of the tower's top, sending wood and debris flying everywhere, before the structures of both towers gave away immediately as they both toppled.

Looking up from behind the crates, Davis could see the structures break down into piles of wood and other materials as they collapsed in flames and smoke with an earth-shattering bang. Silence overcame the air again after it was riddled with the blustering pops of gunfire and roaring explosions.

The young Spartan emerged from the crates. "Sure that isn't the last of them."

"Yeah," Brooks replied. "We'll secure it sector-by-sector, before we hit the cache."

"Roger that," Davis acknowledged under his breath.

Moving down the path that curved to the right, Davis slowly paced behind the Combat Rover in front of the pack, before he ran past it towards what appeared to be a helipad. More danger came towards them in the form of the fluttering sounds of helicopter propellers that approached from their north-west direction, the sounds becoming even louder as they approached. Davis turned his head around to the left, only to focus his sights on the two hostile gunships that flew towards their direction.

He scrambled towards nearby cover, right behind a wall of sandbags. "Hostile choppers! They got us zeroed in!"

"Keep movin'!" Brooks ordered. "If they get a lock on us, we're dead!"

The pilot on board one of the hostile choppers had spotted the four Spartans on the ground right away, as he directed the air vehicle towards their positions. Auto-cannon rounds were fired at the four men as they scrambled away, splitting off into different positions. Davis rushed away from his cover, before he turned around and ran towards a facility to his right. Evading the line of heavy ammunition rounds that trailed behind him, he dove into the shadows that were casted by the dwelling, before he moved around on his chest and faced the direction where the other three men were.

One of the choppers circled around the area, while the other focused in on the three men that kept moving on their feet and firing at the hostile gunships at the same time. Thick layers of snow kicked up in the air, as the 25mm rounds coming from the attack helicopters had narrowly missed the squad that counter-attacked. While the other three were busy distracting the two attack choppers in the air, Davis deployed a guided missile from the Combat Rover as it moved around. He steered the missile towards the side of an attacking helicopter, before it was caught by the massive impact that the warhead had. With the chopper now engulfed in flames and smoke, Davis fired off a few mortar rounds from the ground drone, before all of them had slammed into the hostile chopper and destroying it in a colossal fireball.

Castle saw the gutted remains of the chopper falling to the ground from the flames wafting upward in the air.

"Yeah, give 'em hell, son!" He shouted.

Davis then fired another guided missile at the remaining gunship that was busy attacking the other three men on the ground. This time, the zipping warhead had been steered towards one of the chopper's main engines, blowing it apart and sending fires that razed the side of the copter. With thick, black smoke billowing off of the heavily-damaged chopper, the pilot struggled to direct away from the Spartans that continued to fire at the helicopter as it retreated away and past a ginormous mountain of ice.

"Chopper's bugged out!" Davis shouted as he scrambled off onto his feet.

"Alright!" Brooks emerged out from the side of a facility. "That was effective."

Rejoining his squad, Davis moved ahead with them as the Combat Rover led the way across the helipad, and down a snowy slope of a path around the walls of the icy mountain to the right. Passing by a structure to their left, the Spartans made their way down the stretch of the path, just before they encountered a heavily-armed checkpoint just before the building that housed the cache of weapons. As they advanced forward, they were met with a mounted turret positioned behind two walls of sandbags, and a regiment of foot mobiles that infested the checkpoint.

"Hostile turret! Watch it!"

The manned rotary gunner fired at the rushing Spartans, before they scrambled to cover behind barricades of objects that they could find. Behind a stack of boxes, Davis peered around the corner and could spot a line of four men firing behind the sandbags ahead of the mounted turret. Watching the Combat Rover moving forward down the path in front of him, he tapped on a button that launched a guided warhead, sending it straight at the turret that was in the way. The ensuing blast had taken out the five gunmen that were behind the sandbags, while Castle and Franco fired at the other riflemen moving in. Brooks blindly fired from the cover of his corner, before he fully moved back in from the bullets that came his way.

Using the drone's mortar weapons system again, Davis moved the firing curve around the areas of the checkpoint, repeatedly tapping at the button that fired off every shell that was launched from the back of the quadruped. Several hostiles were caught in the path of where the shells had landed as they rained down from the skies. Multiple explosions occurred as a few shells landed next to oil drums and gas canisters that were sparsely scattered around the checkpoint guarding the building ahead of it. Angry shouts and gunfire that ripped through the air imminently died to silence, as Davis looked around from the corner again, before he emerged away from the big, white boxes. Brooks, Castle, and Franco had also slowly emerged away from their covers, before all four had moved up and spectated the sights in front of them.

What used to be the lines of sandbags that were in place all over the checkpoint were all knocked away, as a large amount of bloodied bodies littered the grounds with flames that still burned from where the gas and oil containers were. Pushing through the checkpoint, the Spartans took cover behind the last lines of sandbags that were standing in place before the edge over a short drop, just as a gunman fired a mini-warhead from the top of the watchtower that was to the left and near a huge satellite antenna. The rocket zoomed towards a wall of sandbags, blowing out a large chunk of cover away. Poking his head out of cover, Davis saw a squadron of gunmen charging out of the main entrance of the large building, just before he ducked away from bullet fire that came from a mounted turret atop a building to his right.

"Hostiles are on the move!" One of the Spartans shouted. "Engaging!"

"Cover me, I'm reloading!"

Bullets flew back and forth as the rushing enemy foot mobiles engaged the Spartans behind the sandbags, as the three men took cover before firing back at them. Davis poked out again and glanced over to his left, before he saw an armoured 4WD that blew past the watchtower to its left, as it skidded to a stop and having its mounted gunner adding to the regiment's firepower. With the Combat Rover in position, Davis launched a guided missile before he banked it to the left and struck the side of the military vehicle. The 4WD exploded and sent flames flying up high, before he launched another series of mortar rounds that rained hell on the ground troops that were all over the place. 81mm shells whistled from the air before they dropped down on the gunmen that were exposed. More bodies were hurled across the air along with different firearms that sailed in every direction, as scores of hostile militants were no match for the ultimate firepower coming from the ground drone.

Davis waited for the overheating indicator on his heads-up display to drop back down from the levels of red, before he began to launch another series of mortar rounds that bombarded the area in front of him, from left to right. The watchtower that stood near the large satellite dish had been obliterated by one of the shells, instantly slaying the man who had wielded an anti-tank weapon inside. Another shell landed right at the mounted turret on top of the building to the right, sending pieces of the turret flying back along with the slain gunner. Thunderous booms echoed repeatedly as the rest of the shells rained down on the large building's exteriors and exploded, slaying away at a few men behind a wall of sandbags on top of the building to the left. A couple of shells blasted away the windows of the building's second storey, taking out a couple of mounted gunners who were caught in the open. A few more shells blew apart a wall of sandbags on the left-side of the building that was near to the right, mortally wounding a couple of men that were behind them.

After the last few ground-shaking booms echoed off, silence had gradually returned in the air again, save for the crackling and sizzling that emanated from the fires that were set all over the area. Davis heavily exerted his breath repeatedly, as he tried to regain his bearings from the overwhelming force of the battle. Castle and the others also regained their breaths, as they slowly made their way over the sandbags before making the short drop down, while Davis also pushed on with the Combat Rover following. Passing by the chaos and rapture that surrounded the battle-ravaged area, the four Spartans made their way into the main entrance of the large edifice, following the path to the right and then to the left. They slowed to a stop behind a large, metallic door that required a special point of access.

"Command, Spartan," Brooks communicated over the radio. "We're at the target, need a hand with the door."

"_I read you, Spartan," _the head operator complied. _"Stand by."_

The large, metallic door then began to slide itself open from the left, thin vapours of steam emerging out as the hydraulic doors hissed open.

"Stack up," the team leader directed his squad.

The doorway having opened up, the squad of four went through it one-by-one, descending down a flight of stairs before they followed the path to the left. Once they passed through an open doorway to their right, Brooks slowed down to a halt as his eyes widened at the sight ahead of him. The other three Spartans behind him had joined up next to him on both sides, before they had also stopped dead on their tracks.

"Ho-ly shit," Franco remarked quietly, intonating the first word into two parts before he fully hissed out the curse.

"Too big to be storage, huh?" Castle flatly added next to him, as he saw what appeared to be a gigantic rack of silver-tipped ballistic missiles in front of his eyes.

Davis was in shock, as he saw every armament that was stashed in the wide and spacious room. Slowly pacing towards the end of the catwalk, he turned to his left and to the right as he focused on the many weapons that were illuminated by the ceiling-mounted lights casting over the dim conditions. Off to his left, he could make out in the distance, what appeared to be two rows of three mobile suits that stood tall whilst docked, the mobile suits having resembled that of the Windams operated by the former Earth Alliance. He squinted his eyes to make out a black emblem that adorned the right shoulder piece of all the mobile suits that stood. It was composed of the upper-half of a sun cross. Below it, there was a stylized letter "Z" having been inverted and flipped 90 degrees clockwise, and a long transversal stroke at the center of the flipped letter. He gulped in air anxiously, the feeling of fear wrought upon him that overwhelmed his senses.

Brooks inspected every sight of the weapons cache, before he communicated to the head operator again. "Command, are you seeing our feed?"

A tense pause followed.

"_Affirmative, Spartan," _the head operator tensed up quietly. _"….This isn't gonna go over well back home. Can you bring it down?"_

Davis turned to Brooks from the end of the catwalk. "It's more like we can get far enough away?"

Brooks then placed his fingers over the part of the helmet covering his temple. "We'll handle it, Command," he then nodded at Davis. "Plant charges."

Nodding back in confirmation, Davis turned to his right and saw a large warhead hanging from the rafters, right close to him. Reaching out what appeared to be a large pack of plastic explosives with a digital timer strapped to it, Davis fixed and secured the explosives onto the steel exterior of the warhead. Punching in a sequence of buttons on the keypad, he set the explosives to be armed, as the countdown timer began flashing on the screen, before he began to rush off.

"Charge is hot!" Brooks blared out. "Let's move!"

Leading the way out, Davis ran past the open doorway and cut to his left, charging up the flight of stairs and past the narrow gap that the large metal doors gave. As he made his way towards the exit, Davis could hear the rumbling of a helicopter's rotors, before he was caught off guard by a massive explosion that rocked in front of him. The force of the blast knocked him off his feet, as he fell back to the ground hard. Getting off from his feet, the other three Spartans caught up with Davis as Castle fully helped him up.

"Damn it, chopper's back!" Franco blasted out. "Shoulda killed that thing the first time!"

"He brought some friends!" Davis snarled angrily, hearing shouts of Russian in the near distance.

"Clock's ticking, Spartans!" Brooks bellowed. "Take 'em out and let's move!"

Dodging away at the incoming auto-cannon fire coming from the chopper hovering above, Davis swerved around and took cover behind a wall that separated the main entrance and a blown-out part of the building. Enabling the Combat Rover that was right outside the building, Davis launched out a guided missile and directed it at the hostile chopper. The missile had only struck the side of the chopper, ripping out one of its engines with a powerful blast, resulting in thick clouds of black smoke pouring from the side of the copter. As the nose of the chopper turned towards where the missile had originated from, Davis quickly launched another guided missile, directing it towards the front of the gunship. The pilot of the chopper screamed in Russian as the chrome-tipped warhead zoomed directly towards him. The guided missile slammed through the glass cockpit, before the entire helicopter exploded in a massive inferno in the skies.

"Chopper's down!"

"Then let's get on 'em bloody bastards!" Castle screamed. "Fuck 'em all up!"

The entire Spartan squad pushed through past the main entrance of the building, as they encountered a large squadron of riflemen who were now at the top of the hill. Behind the metal crates and boxes, the three Spartans focused their fire on the enemy foot mobiles who were positioned farther back of the sandbags. An armoured military vehicle had also came rushing down from one of the slopes, its mounted gunner suppressing the Specters from reaching their extraction point. Crouching behind cover, Davis fired off one more guided missile that was steered right into the hostile vehicle, before it blew up into a blazing ball of fire. He then proceeded to use the remaining mortar rounds loaded inside the Combat Rover, before launching all of them at the last bastion of ground troops.

Raining hell on them one last time, the 81mm rounds tore up the snowy terrain, as the hostile riflemen were unfortunate enough to get caught up by the wide radius of the blasts. The mortar shots had wiped out the men behind the barriers of sandbags, tossing their corpses up in the air and everywhere. One of the hostiles, a militant armed with a rocket launcher was decimated by a shell that landed right by him, before he could even fire at the group of four. Once the area was cleared off, the Spartans dashed madly up the slopes and past every obstacle that was sitting in the emptied checkpoint.

"We're all clear!" Davis barked out.

"Let's go, let's go!" Brooks yelled. "We don't have much time!"

Sprinting past the last of the blown-out walls of sandbags, the Spartans made their way out of the checkpoint, just as the timer on the digital display reached to zero. A series of gigantic explosions ruptured out from the large building far behind them, blowing everything apart on the inside and out, before blasts of thick white clouds blanketed the area. The wind whistled loudly from the force of the air being pushed outward from the detonations that boomed through the skies above.

Franco slowly turned around after he shielded himself from the incoming clouds of white smoke and dusts of snowflakes headed his way.

"Yeeeah, I'd say we got it all," he murmured whilst staring at the damage being done.

"Command, Spartan," Brooks communicated. "Target destroyed. We're headed back in."

"_Roger that, Spartan," _the head operator acknowledged. _"I've got a feeling we're just getting started."_

* * *

**February 12, C.E. 93  
****ZAFT Military Station (Headquarters)  
****1830 Hours**

The brunette male dressed in his white-and-black commander's uniform had stepped out from his quarters, before he walked down a hallway for what appeared to be time away from the stresses of work. He continued down to the left, heading for a vending machine nearby. As he approached it, he encountered a silver-haired male in his late-30s headed towards his direction, clad in the same commander's uniform with the gold markings in the black sections of his suit.

The silver-haired male noticed him first, slightly surprised at his sudden appearance. "Oh! Kira…it's you!" He smiled.

"Yzak," Kira greeted back with a polite nod of the head. "What are you doing here?"

The silver-haired commander huffed quietly. "I had a meeting with all the other commanding officers on where to deploy their units for future operations," he grumbled. "It just seems so damned frustrating with these men."

Kira smiled thinly. "I can see that you're feeling down from what happened there. Mind if we talk?"

Yzak's blue eyes stared at him as he paused, before he shook his head. "I…don't mind," he quietly answered.

Swiping down his identification card at the slot, the short-haired brunette punched one of the buttons from the vending machine, before a bottle of carbonated soda fell down into the dispensing slot. Kira reached the bottle from there and pulled it out from the slot, before he twisted the cap of the bottle open, a light hissing noise coming out from it.

"So…how are things going for you, Commander Joule?" Kira asked him, before he took a sip from the fizzy drink. "Is your daughter doing well lately?"

"Vivian?" Yzak answered. "Yeah, she's actually doing quite well. For a mobile suit pilot, I mean."

Kira smiled warmly, leaning against the wall. "I see."

Yzak nodded, smiling back. "Considering that she's now in the same unit as Shiho out there…I'm quite proud of her, you know. Always listens to me and her mother, but she's also pretty tough too, I gotta say."

"That's nice to hear," Kira responded positively after taking another sip.

"So, how 'bout your day?" Yzak asked him. "Your team doing alright lately? Anything significant in the investigation?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Kira answered. "Latest reports have it that Specter Team Spartan had succeeded in the destruction of a hidden weapons cache, off of the Kola Peninsula. However, we have yet to identify the perpetrators behind what happened in the Andes. Right now, they're being extracted, where they're returning back to the Polemos."

"I see," Yzak muttered out his remarks. "With Dearka being the captain of that ship. That damn idiot…"

Kira could only give a light-hearted chuckle to himself at his words.

Yzak then looked up. "Hey. I just wanted to say about what happened of the other team, about a month back…"

Kira then sighed, looking down. "It's alright, Yzak."

"No, I just wanted to say that I actually felt pretty bad about what happened to that Specter team in Peru," Yzak earnestly explained. "When I did hear about what had happened, I couldn't have imagine it to be that bad."

The brunette-haired commander could only give a slightly-saddened look in his eyes.

"But you know? I feel like I also want to take responsibility for this, too," he continued. "I was one of the men involved in planning the operations at that time. I could've done something about it before the plans were approved, but—"

"Say no further, Yzak," Kira cut in gently. "It was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened. And we're the only ones here to pick up the pieces and put them back together, trying to make sense of how it all happened."

Yzak deeply sighed. "I'm just saying…there are many things in my life that I shouldn't have ever done. Especially what happened early on in the first war, with the civilians in that shuttle—"

"Yzak…"

"You're right, I should leave it be," the silver-haired adult sighed. "Very well. I have to go now."

"See you around, Commander," Kira faintly smiled.

"Same to you, Commander!"

As Yzak departed away, Kira's facial expression shifted from faintly bright, to a more stoic expression as he could only reflect back on his experiences from the past couple of wars he was involved in. He laid back on the wall for quite some time, before he had also began to walk off and away.

Retreating back to his quarters, Kira sat down on the swivel chair where he tapped on a few buttons of a touchscreen mounted on his desk. Inspecting the recorded video footage of what the Spartans had captured through their visors as they were inside the weapons cache, something had caught his eye right away upon seeing Davis' point of view. Rewinding back to the sequence in particular, Kira paused the video at the moment where Davis stared at the Windam-like mobile suits from far away. Zooming in on one of the mobile suits, the commander looked hard at the emblem that was emblazoned on the right shoulder piece. He quickly pulled out a few paper documents from a folder right by the touchscreen, one of which had a photo containing a screenshot of what Major Adams had viewed upon inside the truck, moments before his unforeseen death. Comparing the logo adorning part of the mobile suit to the one on the cover sheet within the cargo truck, the commander was struck with a great disturbance at both emblems being strikingly similar with each other. He could only glance at the photo with visibly shocked eyes before staring at what he saw on the screen again.

_**To be continued in PHASE-07: "Where the Trail Ends".**_

* * *

**NEW TECHNOLOGY  
**_**Combat Rover (ZAFT)  
**_**FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS**

**Bulletproof Armour – **Deep, thick layers of specialized metals and other materials make the combat drone virtually invulnerable to small arms fire.

**Mortar Artillery** – The Combat Rover is capable of firing shells of the 81mm kind, enough to destroy small infantry units, all the way to heavier weaponry such as armoured-personnel carriers.

**Guided Missile Systems **_**– **_The unmanned ground drone is also capable of firing away missiles that are guided by the user through wireless technology. Useful against attack helicopters and other heavier weaponry.

* * *

**And that's it for this chapter! Again, a few notes to make for those who have read this chapter from start to finish:**

**Firstly, the mission that Team Spartan undertakes in this chapter is based off of the "Silent Talon" mission from **_**Future Soldier**_**, where the Ghosts infiltrate and destroy a hidden weapons cache in Arctic Russia, with the help of…you guessed it, a combat ground drone.**

**Secondly, there are a few "Easter eggs" at the start of this chapter, when the four Specters identify themselves to the machine with their verification codes. Special points for those who can tell what the verification codes actually are by using the first letter of every word, combined with the numbers!**

**Thirdly, Kira and Yzak having a light conversation with each other wasn't something I had in mind initially, when I began writing this chapter out. However, I thought that there may not be enough dialogue going on between the two, so I decided to write this scene in at the end. **

**Lastly, some of you will realize that Davis does not go into Advanced SEED Mode in this chapter. I believe that not every chapter will have a character will use this special ability in particular, so it's best to say that there will be certain points in certain future chapters where an occurrence like this will happen.**

**As the next chapter comes out soon, the Spartans will be tasked with one more mission…before all is said and revealed of those responsible for the tragic demise of Team Roman. After that, there will be much bigger developments in the chapter after the next one. Stay tuned for more!**


	11. PHASE-07: Where the Trail Ends

**Author's Note: **Hello guys, and here's another new chapter…packed full of intense action! Lately, I saw the 20th episode of the Gundam SEED Destiny HD Remaster and having seen every episode since the first one came out, I kind of enjoyed it…I mean it's decent despite what some people think. Heck, my thoughts can be summed up on the latest episode near the end of this chapter…you gotta read hard to figure out where it is! Anyway, I bet you're wondering who (or _what_) is behind the deaths of Team Roman. Well, I'll leave it up to you to read the whole chapter here. Enjoy!

* * *

**Voltage Axe Presents**

_**Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Reflex**_

**PHASE-07: Where the Trail Ends**

* * *

**February 13, C.E. 93  
****North Sea, Eternal-class ship **_**Polemos  
**_**1700 Hours**

"Alright, check it…so the one's layin' suppressive fire, right? Just _unloading_, keepin' their heads down…"

Rows of tables that seated for two as well as rows of tables that seated for four people had filled the cantina room of the ship, with several men and women off-duty having occupied the seats. The crowd din inside the room was almost quiet, with light conversations going off between groups of three, and four ZAFT personnel, while having the best of their meals served on stainless-steel trays. Over at the long counter serving the meals, several of the crew members aboard the ship lined up and moved down along the counter, as the staff behind it had served the meals on their trays. Franco, sporting a beige field cap, moved down quietly at the front of the line while receiving a corned beef sandwich on a plate.

"But then, this chopper pops up over the ridge," a male crew member with short, chestnut-coloured hair continued as he faced a blond male next to him.

"The sniper's keepin' em pinned?" The blond male, dressed in his blue service uniform, had queried.

Franco retrieved a glass bottle filled of lemon-lime soda from the top of a soft drink dispenser, as the two men to his left in line had continued their gossip. A male staff member with a buzz-cut hairstyle behind the counter approached Franco to see if he needed assistance opening the bottle, but the Spartan had politely waved him off.

"No, no! The other one…the country kid," the male with the chestnut-coloured hair had corrected.

Franco skillfully popped the cap of the bottle open by placing its neck on the outer steel tubing that helped the trays slide by over, before he bashed the carpal section of his palm against the cap. A loud pop emerged from the bottle as the cap shot out harmlessly against the side of the counter and bouncing away from it, with the hissing sound of the carbonated soda fizzing up right away. He thanked the staff member from under his breath, before he walked off and away from the counter, the filled tray held in his hands.

The chestnut-haired male continued. "The sniper sees the chopper and he just lines up the shot, all cool and shit."

"Uh huh," the blond man followed his words, moving down the counter.

"Then he takes the shot—_BAM!_" The male to his right emphasized with a hand gesture of a rifle being fired. "He nails the pilot!"

"Bullshit!" The blond serviceman exclaimed, as they both walked away with their trays filled with food. "Seriously, first shot?"

"No shit, first shot!" The chestnut-haired crew member excitedly reacted, as he sat down behind a table, the blond man joining him at the seat across. "I swear to God, right through the fuckin' canopy—_POW!_"

The blond man paused, staring at him, before he responded. "That is _so_ badass!"

"Right?" The chestnut-haired man continued with ecstatic movement that was quite animate. "And the best part…the bird just rolls over and _drops_," he slammed a clenched fist down on the table that shook at his emphasis. "_BLAM!_ Right on top of the enemy position, I mean, _clears out everything_…"

The blond man was quite excited at how he explained it to him, as he gave out a whooping holler in reaction.

"You know, if I remember that right," Franco told Castle as they sat at a table a row behind them to their left, "that _'one shot'_ was with an R.P.G."

Castle dug into a chunky piece of beef ravioli on his plate, before looking up to face him.

"Yeah," he quietly replied.

Franco looked at him with a slightly-concerned expression on his face. "You gonna…you gonna tell them how it really went down?" He directed his fork at the men a row ahead to their right.

Castle turned his head to stare at the men behind to his left for a moment, before turning back to roll his eyes while craning his head upward to the left.

"Naah," the Englishman gruffly responded, staring at him. "Their version's better…"

Franco could only chuckle quietly at his answer, as Castle also did, clinking the necks of their glass bottles against each other as a toast of sorts. The chestnut-haired male looked from behind and stared at them, as the two Spartans took a swig of their drinks after the toast, before they put their bottles down on the table.

* * *

"_I don't think anyone was expecting what you uncovered," Commander Kira Yamato intonated in his earnest tone. "That amount of military-grade hardware shouldn't have been a surprise, and that's got people worried."_

"_Our Intel Department, Terminal, and the A.F. are swapping a lot of data right now, and a picture's emerging," he explained. "Volkov is linked to a hardline faction that we are very close to fully identifying, but its origins are from Russia. We're still working connections, but this thing runs deep."_

_Kira continued, "In the meantime, Terminal says this faction is moving a top-grade system into the hands of some truly vile people." He paused. "I'll tell you up front—this op is a bad idea. You know it, I know it…and we'll do it anyway."_

"_We'll be deep inside Eurasian territory with zero margin for error," the commander explained. "Ops don't get any higher risk than this. But the risk this gear poses if it slips through is even greater. So let's make damn sure we do it the right way. Evgeniy Mudrov is here again for what you'll use in this mission."_

"_Thank you, sir," the chief designer responded. "Team Spartan, you'll have to see the battlefield to own it. Your night vision optics gives you a clear look under low-light or obscured conditions. My only advice is not to stare into the sun with this kind of vision turned on. Good luck!"_

* * *

**February 13, C.E. 93  
****Kaliningrad, Russia, Eurasian Federation  
****2200 Hours**

The squad of four Specters moved while crouching across the tall and thick brush all over the area that was also sprawled with redwood trees that stood under the night skies.

"Command, Spartan's on approach to target," Brooks communicated as he advanced slowly, before he stopped.

"_Copy, Spartan," _the head operator acknowledged before he warned. _"Stay on point down there. You're going into a military facility. Armed response will be swift and deadly."_

"Understood," Brooks responded before he began moving again. "We'll ping you again when we're on site. Spartan out."

The other three Spartans stopped near him, as he did, nearing the large group of trees to his left.

"Cargo is our priority target," Brooks turned to the three men. "We need to locate the gear, and destroy it before it moves out," he stressed. "Stay focused."

The other Spartans nodded to themselves just before the team leader allowed Davis to take point, once their camouflage systems were activated. The staff sergeant moved ahead of him, as they slowly made their way past a wide gap between two trees. In front of his eyes, Davis could see in the distance of almost 50 metres away, two shady figures of riflemen patrolling the side of the road by the line of trees ahead. He could confirm this by deploying the night vision optics through his visor, the heat signatures radiating off in a field of green and black. Noticing that they were the only ones in plain sight, and that no other hostiles were around, he drew out his sniper rifle with a suppressor attached to its barrel. With the electronic tagging device built into the rifle, Davis wirelessly e-tagged the two men in front, allowing Castle and Franco to take positions around the limbs of the trees close by.

"We'll fire when you're ready," Castle whispered over the communications.

Davis gave the signal. "Fire!"

Sounds of muffled-out gunshots were heard, before the two guards patrolling the roadway collapsed down on the ground, bullet holes marking their bodies that leaked out blood right away. The two hostile guards taken care of, Davis moved off to the left, guiding the squad into the woods by the road illuminated with the lighting fixtures in-ground. The squad could start to hear rumbling sounds coming off from the road to their right, the noises becoming even louder as the team leader could see a couple of lights beaming off from the oncoming direction, the beams of light penetrating through the thin layers of fog around the area where the road was.

"Move to cover," Brooks directed. "Stay out of sight."

Moving away quickly and scrambling off to find well-suited cover, Davis split away from his team to find himself crouched behind a semi-trailer filled with a truckload of logs secured on top. Peering away from a corner of his cover, Davis could see a convoy of three linear tanks making their way down the road, with a patrol of five riflemen behind the moving vehicles. He then moved back into his previous position behind the trailer full of wooden logs. The other Spartans and he waited for the rumbling sounds coming from the motors and treads of the main battle tanks to gradually subside, as they passed by them without a hint of their presence.

Franco chuckled a bit as tranquility resumed in the air. "Hey kid, you cool being here in the 'motherland'?" He asked Davis teasingly.

"My parents are from different lands," Davis flatly stated in his unamused tone. "Me, I'm from East Asia."

"That's enough, Frankie," Brooks admonished him, before he looked past the patrol of guards. "Should be a checkpoint up ahead. That's our way in, we're gonna have to clear it."

"Roger that," Davis responded, as the team and him began moving off and forward along the trees.

Passing by the large patrol of guards that were equipped with flashlights, Davis could see a lone guard deviating away from the group that was marching down the roadside. Slowly trailing behind in the woods, the young Spartan followed the straggler marching up the road that led to their objective. The armed guard, all by himself, made his way towards the entrance of what appeared to be an airfield. He met the two men who guarded the front of the entrance, before engaging in light and friendly conversation with them. Moving towards the side of a tree, Davis crouched down before he drew out his sniper rifle, peering through the magnified scope of his firearm. He could make out the three armed guards talking to each other by the front of the entrance, before he saw a fourth man coming off from the left and joining the two guards standing next to each other to their left.

Davis then proceeded to e-tag every one of them, marking the three men standing in front of the entrance for his squad-mates to focus on, before he drew the crosshairs on the head of the rifleman talking to them after shifting himself down on the prone position. Taking a deep breath, he squeezed away at the trigger of his suppressed sniper rifle. On cue, the other three Spartans fired. The four men guarding the entrance had all went down with their firearms flying away from their hands, light misting of blood in the air as every one of them were on the ground.

"Hostiles are down," Brooks reported. "Moving up."

They continued to push further at their slowest pace, reaching their way towards the entrance leading to the airfield itself. It was then that Davis disabled the special night optics through his visor. Passing through an open space in between the line of gates, the Spartans made their way up the slope of the gravel road, before they moved into different positions just as a transport airplane flew above them in the skies. Crouching behind a metal container full of secured oil drums, Davis peeked out from his cover for a moment to scan the area around him.

"How many we got?" Castle breathed out.

Davis ducked back down. "_Too_ many."

"Make it quick, and no survivors," Brooks stressed. "They hit the alarm, and this op is over before it starts."

"Yes sir," Davis complied.

Peering around from the left corner of his cover, Davis could pinpoint two riflemen guarding the rooftops of the buildings within the airfield, with one being further apart from the other. The team leader and Castle stealthily moved to their suitable firing positions, before they lined up their aim on the assigned targets. Davis gave the go-ahead immediately, as muffled gunshots rang out before the two men on the roofs collapsed to the surfaces on their stomachs with quieted thuds.

"Got eyes on another few."

"On the bridge."

Looking around to the right, Davis could see a couple of guards talking to each other as they moved down a bridge further ahead, spotting another hostile on that bridge all by himself as well as a guard in the close distance. Tagging the three men on the bridge, Davis focused on the armed guard that approached towards him, before he fired his rifle. Simultaneously, the other three Spartans fired away, taking out the three sentries on the bridge ahead to their right. The man approaching the cloaked Davis had a bullet through his head, before collapsing forward and dying instantly.

"Targets eliminated."

Brooks looked around. "Hostile sniper on your 3. Up on the roofs."

Davis poked out from his cover again, looking around at the tops of the structures in front, through the scope of his rifle. He could then spot a man clad in dark clothing, standing idle and watching over the rooftop of a building, with a high-caliber marksman rifle in his hands. Positioning the target of the scope's crosshairs on the head of the enemy sniper, Davis steadied his aim with a hold of his breath, before he pulled at the trigger. The suppressed sniper round punctured through the hostile male's skull, with the enemy marksman collapsing on his back, instantly slain from the one bullet.

"He's history."

The staff sergeant then moved away from the container, turning to his left and finding a narrow catwalk in front. Leading the way, Davis passed through the catwalk before sneaking his way on the other rooftop, going right and making his way behind the side of a concrete barrier lining the edge of the rooftop. Poking out from the barrier, he peered through the scope of his rifle, before he instantly spotted a lone militant sitting on a pile of materials carried by a forklift. Steadying the crosshairs on the head of the hostile rifleman, Davis breathed deeply again before he took the shot. Splotches of blood popped away from the man's head, before he fell off of the pile and sprawled on the ground dying.

Brooks surveyed the area below. "There's our shortcut."

Making his way back to where he previously was, Davis crossed the catwalk again, before he rejoined his squad-mates as they moved across a bridge that led them to where the slain militant was. Passing through a couple of forklifts and other construction equipment, the team of four entered an open doorway leading to a derelict office space. The squad of four stacked up behind a sliding bay door in front of them, two men on both sides, one behind the other. Their firearms drawn out, the team leader slid the door up with one hand, leaving a gap the size of a quarter of a panel open for Davis to check whilst sitting on his knees and leaning far to the right. With everything clear in front, Castle was the first to move under the door and out through, followed by Davis and Franco. Franco helped Brooks to hold the door open for the team leader to get through, before the door was quickly slid down to close shut.

Davis then took point for the team, as he led the three men down a flight of stairs, passing by a copper pipe that emitted vapours of steam. Coming down another flight of stairs, Davis made his way through a corridor with the rest of his team behind him, passing by a series of metal doors spaced apart from each other in alternating patterns on both sides. Reaching the end of the hallway, the young Spartan slowed to a stop before what appeared to be the giant, spinning blades of a fan in the way of the ventilation shaft ahead. In fact, there was another set of them at the other end of the shaft, spinning and grinding in the same way as the first set did.

"Biggest damn vent I ever saw," Franco remarked as he stopped near Davis.

"They used 'em to pipe hot air through the airfield," Davis explained. "Keeps the ice off the runways."

Franco turned to him. "Hey, I'll take random Russian trivia for a thousand," he sarcastically commented.

Brooks stopped near Davis' left. "Get a drone in there."

Deploying the H.A.R.O. Drone from his belt, Davis steered the unmanned air vehicle around, watching the camera feed through his visor at the same time for any way to disable the giant fans in front of them. Panning the drone around, an open space to the far right of the fans had caught his eye, steering the drone into the open space that was high above the team. Switching the drone's configuration to its land settings, the spherical device instantly turned into an unmanned ground vehicle, as it drove forward on the small ledge it landed on. Spotting four small panels of electric wiring and rows of flashing lights that powered the fans, Davis tapped a holographic button that deployed the sonic pulse weapon from the unmanned drone. A dome of sheer electric bursts emerged from the H.A.R.O., affecting the wiring on the panels, before the fans themselves had slowed to a grinding halt.

Recalling back the drone, Davis led the team through the wide gap made by the first set of giant fans that stopped, before they held their positions behind the other set of fans that kept spinning. Deploying the drone again, Davis scanned the area through the drone's camera feed, before he found an open space high above to the far-left. Steering the unmanned vehicle through the space, he turned the drone's configuration back to its land settings, before directing it towards another set of four panels at the end of the small ledge. Once it got close to the panels, Davis deployed another sonic pulse from the drone, the dome of electricity bursting out from the H.A.R.O. as it disabled the second set of giant fans.

"That did it," Davis recalled and retrieved the drone. "Let's go."

The giant fans slowed to a stop, leaving behind another wide gap for the Spartans to pass through, making their way out from the vent shaft. Passing through a few ventilation units mounted at the wall to their left, the team of four Specters made their way to the end of the path, before making a right to continue.

Brooks placed his fingers on part of his helmet that covered his temple. "Command, you tracking our progress?"

"_Affirmative, Spartan," _the head operator confirmed. _"You're coming up on a stretch of runway with heavy enemy presence," _he explained. _"There's another airshaft on the opposite side. That'll get you closer to the target."_

"Understood," Brooks responded, as they passed through another few ventilation units mounted on the wall to the left.

Reaching all the way to the end of the stretch, the team went left before they made a right, coming left again to stop behind a tall ladder mounted on the grey and dark brick walls. Davis climbed up the ladder first, all the way before he opened up the hatch that led him above ground. The hatch raised open, Davis poked his head out to spectate a transport airplane about to take off in front of him, as he could see the airstrip with his eyes. With the plane having taken off into the nightly conditions, Davis climbed out from the hatch first, the rest of his team following. Brooks was surprised to discover the apron area of the airfield being larger than what he expected it to be.

"Still a long way to go," he sighed. "Sooner we start, sooner we're across and under cover."

"Oh, this is gonna be ugly," Franco dreaded as they all started taking off on foot.

"Keep to cover, move quick, and nobody tries to be a hero," Brooks sternly directed. "Got it?"

"Got it," Davis affirmed.

Their adaptive camouflage automatically enabled, the four Specters in their special combat suits sneaked across the airstrip, heading towards the other side of the runway. Davis could see a cargo truck coming from his left, its bright headlights beaming as it passed by a parked jet airliner before stopping. At the same time, a low-flying airplane began ascending in the skies ahead of the scene in front of his eyes, the engines of the aircraft screaming through the air as it passed over the airfield. Castle and Franco scanned the area from left to right as they snuck towards the opposite side of the runway.

"We got contact, 3 o'clock," Castle spotted. "Up on the roofs."

"Another few on the ground," Franco identified. "Right behind the plane."

Moving quickly to crouch behind a couple of small jet blast fences that lined the side of the airstrip, Davis peeked out from the left blast fence to peer through the scope of his marksman rifle. Spotting a hostile sniper patrolling from the rooftop of a building to his left, he centered the crosshairs on the man's torso before he steadied and pulled the trigger. Some splotches of blood flew in the air, followed by the male stumbling and collapsing forward on his stomach, before dying out instantly.

"Target's eliminated."

Returning back behind the blast fences for a moment, Davis poked back out again and spotted the three men in plain sight with the lighting fixtures shining down on them. One rifleman was watching over another who was doing a series of push-ups on the concrete ground, with the third man standing behind the airplane's tail end, further away. Unsure of the fact that those were the only men at the area, Davis activated the night vision optics through his visor. The whole area was illuminated under the filtered colours of green and black all around for Davis, before he was able to see three heat signatures marked in red figures coming off from his right. One of the three men to the right of the plane began moving towards the other group of three to the left, with the other two guards walking off in the opposite direction.

Davis quickly e-tagged the three men that were behind the tail-end of the jet airliner, before he focused his aim on the hostile guard that moved towards the group. Steadying the crosshairs on the moving target, Davis gave a deep breath before his index finger squeezed away at the trigger of his rifle. At the same time, the other three Spartans fired away, picking off the three men by the plane that included the fourth man who dropped to the ground with a quiet thud.

"Hostiles are down," Davis hushed.

"There's still two more," Brooks noted quietly, "to our right."

Emerging away from the blast fences, Davis quickly moved over to take cover behind one of the large, four-wheeled baggage carts stationary ahead. He e-tagged the two men who were now standing idle next to a piece of airfield equipment and behind the cargo truck that was parked. Castle and Brooks moved to the positions by the baggage carts, before they lined up their sights on the two guards standing by. At once, Davis gave the command to fire, both of them doing so. The two men dropped to the tarmac at the same time, with the apron of the airfield now clear of the hostiles all around.

"_Spartan, Command," _the head operator communicated. _"Target's on the other side of the airfield."_

"What's our route?" Brooks asked.

"_There's a series of underground ventilation shafts," _the head operator explained. _"That should give you a covered approach to the target. We'll mark 'em for you."_

"Copy that," Brooks acknowledged as they began to move up.

Davis rushed towards a couple of blue storage bins close ahead to his left, with the other three Spartans in positions behind the boxes and containers nearby. Brooks peeked out from a corner to scan the area ahead of Davis.

"Hostiles, dead ahead," he noted quietly. "A whole group of them."

Staff Sergeant Leung poked his head out from the bins to discover six armed hostiles out in the open. The group of militants were in front of another parked jet airliner near a hangar, with one hostile marksman monitoring from a platform high-up that was within the reach of the plane's passenger door. Below the enemy sniper was a rifleman watching the four comrades off to his left, who were sharing various pieces of conversation with each other in Russian. A lone sentinel was slowly pacing away from the group that was behind him, heading off to Davis' right.

With the lone armed guard heading out of the picture, Davis electronically tagged the hostile sniper on the platform first, for Brooks to focus his sights on. He then tagged the guard below the sniper for Castle to line his aim at, before he marked the guard who was talking to the other two, assigning the target to Franco. Peering through the scope of his marksman rifle, Davis focused the crosshairs on the man whom the guard was talking to, waiting for the other hostile male to align perfectly with him. Once the sentinel behind the man had walked into the spot parallel of him, the young Spartan took a deep breath before he swung his finger against the trigger.

The silenced sniper round travelled past the body of the hostile sentinel in front of the other, before it had also pierced through the body of the guard behind him, trails of blood flying in the air. The other hostile gunmen in the area were also picked off right away by the other Spartans who fired on cue. Firearms were strewn everywhere on the tarmac, as all the bodies of the guards were sprawled all over the pavement in pools of blood.

"Targets are down," Davis hushed up.

"Copy that," Brooks acknowledged.

The staff sergeant poked his head out again to make sure there weren't any more hostile guards in the area. He then spotted a gun-toting guard parallel to a line of four-wheeled trailers loaded with baggage containers, further to his left. The armed man in front was illuminated in his dark clothing by the lights of a low-flying airplane sailing over the skies. As the guard turned around and paced back the way he came from, Davis drew out his sniper rifle and aimed at his back before he fired. The guard let out a pained groan that lasted a second before he collapsed down on the ground and lay lifeless.

The sector of the apron now cleared of all hostiles, all four ZAFT Specters began to slowly advance further up, moving around a couple of construction vehicles to their right. Passing by a forklift to his right and stopping before a scissor lift to his left as he went around, Davis saw an enemy marksman watching a couple of guards on the ground from the top of a platform. One of the two men began to disperse as a cargo truck passed by them, giving way for Davis tag the sniper and the lone guard all by himself. Castle and Brooks lined up their sights after moving to different firing positions.

"Ready on your call," Brooks prepared him.

"Do it!"

The two Spartans fired at once, picking off the sniper from the raised platform and the lone sentinel on the tarmac. Moving to the left and passing by the platform to his right, Davis quickly snuck behind a large metal container nearby a couple of blast fences. He poked out to instantly spot the other sentinel all by himself, laying the crosshairs on him as he paced slowly by the side of a metal container. Davis opened fire, killing the hostile guard with a well-placed shot through his torso. Whipping over to the right, he could see a couple of armed riflemen in the near distance. One was standing idle to the left and past a scissor lift, while the other was hanging by a parked jet airliner to his right. Tagging both of them, Davis waited for the team leader and Castle to move into their suitable positions and line up their sights. Once they did, he gave the go-ahead right away, both armed men ahead taken down without anyone else taking notice of the dead guards.

Franco checked the surroundings around them closely. "Area's clear, we're good to move up."

Moving away from the container, Davis snuck towards a couple of blast fences close ahead to his right, spotting a hostile rifleman in the far distance as he moved to the cover. Drawing out his rifle, he tagged the moving guard, before switching cover with a ground power unit that stood closely ahead to his left. The staff sergeant continued to track the hostile male's movements, before coming off from the piece of equipment and getting right behind the side of an excavator. Now within about 100 metres of the large hangar in front of him, Davis peered through his scope again, before he saw the marked target moving towards another armed guard who was stationed by a small outpost behind the entrance of the hangar and to the right. Laying down the crosshairs on the hostile guard to the left of the marked man, Davis breathed deeply before he squeezed the trigger, with Brooks firing at the same time.

With both sentinels cleared, Davis waited for a moment as the cloaking on his suit began to return, before he could move even again. Peering around from the left corner of the ground power unit, he could see in the distance, a hostile marksman watching from a walkway fixed to the bottom of the hangar's glass windows high above the ground. He marked the sniper with the electronic tagging device in his rifle, for Castle to aim at. Poking back behind the cover and shifting to peer around the right corner, he was able to see another enemy sniper to the far-right of the walkway. As with the first sniper, Davis e-tagged him for Franco to move into a firing position. When both Spartans had lined up their sights and readied, he gave the green light to fire. Muffled blasts of gunfire erupted, before the two hostile snipers on the walkway had collapsed to the surface, bleeding out profusely.

He exerted his breath repeatedly for a few moments, before he began moving away from the piece of airfield equipment. Sneaking past behind a line of blast fences, Davis strafed his way to his right, where he passed through between two structures before joining Castle and Franco at their positions. From there, Davis stealthily moved past the back of a large cubic piece of equipment, making his way towards the right side of the aircraft hangar. Another airplane flew over the aerodrome, its shining lights swept down on the ground and past the moving Spartan. The bright lights of the plane disappeared as the fixed-wing aircraft flew over and away from the airfield. Squeezing through a narrow gap between the side of a shipping container and the tipping bucket of an excavator, he stopped by the right corner of the metallic container, before peering around from it. Out in the distance, three rifle-wielding guards were settled by a forklift inside the hangar, but to the left of it and near its open entrance.

The three men standing by the forklift had just finished their conversations, before they began to disperse. Davis could see one guard walking straight out of the hangar, while the other two had strolled away in the opposite direction. Drawing out his sniper rifle, Davis aimed at the lone man walking outside the hangar and tagged him for Brooks to move into position. Moving at the same time as Brooks, the young Spartan quickly snuck to the walls of the hangar, before creeping towards the right corner of the hangar's open doorways. Once he saw that there was enough distance between the lone guard and the duo of them walking away from each other, he gave the command for Brooks to open fire. In a couple of seconds, the lone armed hostile let out a quieted groan of pain before he collapsed and lay dying on his stomach.

"Target down," Brooks confirmed as he reloaded his rifle.

Coming off from the wall of the hangar, Davis quickly moved while crouching towards a cargo truck that was parked about 30 metres away from the wide open entrance of the hangar. Sneaking behind the side of the truck, Davis peeked around from the right corner, and found a helmeted guard patrolling by a twin-engine airplane stowed inside the hangar. Marking the man that paced by a couple of blast fences to his right, Davis signalled for Castle to take the shot. Moving to a suitable position, Castle lined his crosshairs on the armed guard that had now stopped, before Davis gave the command to fire. The hostile fell flat on his back, a gunshot wound through his torso as he lay dying from the wound.

Moving towards the left corner of the truck, the staff sergeant poked his around and saw the two guards that had parted away from the lone guard that was now slain. The two armed men were next to each other, standing idle in the distance while they continued to talk. Tagging both of the men, Davis allowed Franco and Brooks to get into different positions convenient enough for them to fire from the perimeter.

"Firing on your go," Franco told Davis as he lined his sights up steadily.

"Now!"

Brooks and Franco fired at the same time, taking out the two sentinels that were in the brightly-lit hangar. The team leader then surveyed the whole area inside the large structure for any more hostile gunmen.

"That's all of them," Brooks reported to the team.

Moving away from the cargo truck, Davis sneaked his way inside the aircraft hangar with the rest of his team following behind. Heading in the left side of the hangar with the large fixed-wing aircraft off to his right, he regrouped with his team members before they found an open stairway at the upper-left corner of the structure that led down to a lower level.

"We'll go through here," Brooks directed. "Eyes open."

Davis followed the team leader down the flight of stairs, before they all had stopped behind a pair of doors coloured in yellow, but with a pattern of large black arrows pointing upward. Stacking up against the doors in groups of two men on each side, one behind the other, Davis placed the tips of his fingers on the side of the left door ready to open it with Castle on the opposing door. They slid the doors at once, with Brooks and Franco charging in and their weapons drawn, before the other two joined them quickly. Franco then slid the doors closed behind them, as they slowly ventured through the poorly-lit hallway in front.

Moving down the corridor at a slow and cautious pace, the team made their way to the end of the hallway before heading left, checking their corners as they made another left. The Spartans then continued right, finding themselves sneaking past an open doorway to their left, before each of them vaulted over an open space in the wall that led them into a room full of metal containers and storage units. Going around the boxes, Davis rushed into a room where he saw a few entrances to the vent shafts blocked by a couple of spinning fans.

"We're gonna need the drone trick again," Brooks directed Davis.

"It's not bad," Franco remarked. "It's a dry heat."

Staff Sergeant Leung then deployed the spherical device from his belt that transformed into its air configuration. Steering the unmanned air vehicle with the holographic buttons, Davis directed it past an open space high above the walls that had the spinning fans below. Inside the small room behind the fans, Davis located a box fixed to the wall that generated the fans spinning. Setting the drone down onto the ground, he switched the drone's configuration to its land settings. He then pushed a button that deployed a burst of electricity coming out from the ground vehicle in the form of a dome, frying out the wiring inside the box.

Recalling and retrieving the drone, Davis saw the fans blocking the entrances slowing down to a stop, before they had all left spacious gaps enough to crawl on their stomachs past the gaps.

"Got it," the team leader confirmed. "Let's keep moving."

One-by-one, the squad of four men went down on their stomachs and crawled past the open gaps, before they got up inside the small room behind the stopped fans. Just as they made their way through the open doorway to their left, the head operator came on the radio with news that all of them did not want to hear.

"_Spartan, Command," _the head operator reported. _"The target's already been transferred and loaded onto the cargo plane. They're prepping to roll."_

"Copy, Command," Brooks responded as they went through a passageway and continued left. "We're close, we'll get to it."

Turning right and slowing to a stop before another set of yellow doors with black arrows pointing upward, the Spartans stacked up against them in the same positions they were in. At once, Davis pulled away at the left door while Castle did with the right, allowing Brooks and Franco to scramble through. Davis and Castle followed behind, with Franco shutting the doors closed behind them. Brooks led the way, with the squad of four Spartans marching their way up a flight of stairs leading above the grounds of the hangar, turning right to climb up another flight of stairs. Making their way on a walkway high above the ground, Davis scanned the area down below, spotting several armed sentinels around the hangar.

"There's a lot of friction between here and there," he noted.

Brooks began to notice from the railings of the walkway, the twin-engine jet airliner that was stationary inside the hangar had now began to move, its engines spinning to life.

"Plane's rolling out!" Brooks hushed out to Davis frantically. "Get that drone in place!"

As quick as he was, Davis drew out the H.A.R.O. Drone from his belt, steering the unmanned aerial vehicle high above and heading past the unsuspected hostile riflemen on the ground. He kept on directing the drone forward to catch up with the plane that was now moving, its wings already passing through the open doors of the structure. The fixed-wing aircraft began to pick up even more speed as it taxied itself out of the hangar and onto the tarmac. However, the drone had finally caught up to the jet airliner, with Davis doing his best to try and land the drone onto its right wing. The unmanned drone now hovering above the surface of the plane's wing, Davis switched the drone's configuration to its land settings, before he pressed a couple of buttons that allowed the drone to mount itself onto the wing and become armed as an explosive device.

"Bomb's on target!" The staff sergeant shouted.

"Copy that!" Brooks responded, beginning to move. "Fall back!"

Hiding behind part of the railing covered by a metal plate, Davis poked out his head and saw the tail-end of the airplane having passed by the open exit of the hangar, just as the doors on both sides began sliding to a close. He then proceeded to shift himself away from the cover and began pacing down the walkway. However, one of the hostile riflemen down below began to hear a few noises coming away from the walkway above, turning around only to find the jittering outline emanating from the moving young Spartan through the open spaces of the railing. The armed guard shouted angrily in Russian to the others, pointing at the direction of where the intruders came from and began firing their guns at them. Davis narrowly escaped the bullets that bounced off of the railings and tore holes on the walls to his left, as he rushed towards another part of the railing covered by metal plates.

"Damn it, they're on us!" Franco hollered as an alarm sounded through the air, firing back at the attacking hostiles down below. "We'll have to clear 'em out!"

"That's a lot of hostiles to cut through!" Castle added, as he also shot at the gunmen scrambling to their positions.

"Heads up, they're moving!" Brooks warned, as he crouched behind the railing.

Bullets flew left and right, the four Spartans high above on the walkway exchanging gunfire with the militants down on the hangar's pavement, the shots ringing out all over the enclosed structure. While the other three Spartans were further down to his left, Davis drew out his suppressed sniper rifle and began firing away at the armed men who were out in the open. Blood splattered away as a gunman by a stack of wooden crates collapsed down to the ground hard, a bullet through his torso. Davis fired again, picking off another armed guard with a bullet passing through his upper-body areas, breaking away at the man's ribs and puncturing one of his lungs in the process.

"Suppressing!" Brooks shouted as he fired a barrage of bullets at a few men that strayed behind a stack of metal crates.

"Contact! Dead ahead!" Castle fired his P.D.W. at a couple of men down below who rushed in front of his eyes.

Davis shot away at another Russian militant that fired back, his bullet blasting out a large hole through the area where the man's heart was. Another couple of men came out from a stack of wooden boxes, focusing their fire at the staff sergeant, who quickly avoided the bullets as they bounced away at the metal plate that covered the railing. Castle then shot down one of the men who fired on Davis, before he focused his sights on the other and finished off the second hostile sentinel.

"I got both of 'em!" He ripped the spent magazine off from his rifle before jamming in a new one.

More audible shouts in Russian came further down from the left, as Brooks saw two more men scrambling towards cover behind a shipping container and a large, white box.

"I see 'em!" He roared, before emptying away his clip at the two men by the containers.

Castle and Franco finished off the other few men that remained on the ground, just as Davis focused the crosshairs on the man that began emerging away from the shipping container, before he pulled at the trigger. His shot pierced through the man's skull, blasting it into multiple fragments and leaving behind a profuse trail of blood that leaked out from the hostile guard that was now slain on the ground. Davis then fired another shot at the second guard that had now popped his head out of cover, the exposed man having his head blown off in an explosion of blood and flesh, as the force of the bullet impacting had thrown his body in the air and slammed it down hard on the pavement.

"Kill confirmed!"

"Let's move!" Brooks ordered loudly.

The alarm continued to blare repeatedly, as the Spartans rushed their way down the walkway, before cutting right and sprinting down a flight of stairs. The team of four raced down the main floor of the hangar, before they immediately scrambled behind various points of cover as incoming bullets headed their way from their left. Davis got behind the side of a large trolley loaded with boxes and bags whilst crouched, as a squad of dark-clothed hostiles charged from his left. Bursts of gunfire came from the six gunmen that moved around behind the boxes, shell casings dropping to the ground in multiple clinks as they touched the smooth surface of the pavement. Brooks and Castle fired blindly from their covers, while Davis drew out his personal defence rifle as he popped out right away, firing down on a few men out in the open.

Misting sprays of crimson-red emerged from all over the bodies of the sentinels that were shot down by Davis, as they all collapsed to the ground dying instantly. One of the remaining hostile guards shot at Franco, who ducked behind the metallic boxes before he peeked out from the left corner and fired back at the gunman, his bullets shredding through the man and killing him straight away. Pushing the spent clip on his rifle out with the new magazine and jamming it in, Davis pulled at the charging handle of his weapon, before he poked out from his cover again and picked off a couple of men that ran from the left. He then fired a burst of bullets that pierced through the back of a rushing hostile that ran to the left, with the Spartans behind him.

Vaulting over the cover, Davis moved up along with the rest of the Spartans, before he made his way behind a white container ahead. He peeked out from the left corner, and shot away at a crouched guard right by a skid full of cardboard boxes. Darting away from the white container, Davis moved right by the side of a steel dumpster as more shots were fired coming from ahead and to his left. Hugging the side of the dumpster as he moved further down, Davis fired away at one of the gunmen on the raised platform of a catwalk above ground. One of the armed hostiles lobbed a frag grenade at him, with Davis reacting in time as he bolted to his right and rolled over on his side, before he lay prone and shot a spatter of bullets concentrated on the gunman. The grenade exploded at Davis' previous position just as the armed hostile fell on his back and dying.

Brooks shot at a couple of hostiles still coming from ahead to his right, before he heard multiple trudges behind him. He spun his body quickly to his left, and fired off a heavy barrage of sharp-tipped rounds at a line of five hostile militants that tried to flank them from the right. Several bullets punctured through the bodies of the gunmen as Brooks continued firing with his suppressed P.D.W., the men in front now collapsing onto each other into a strewn and bloody heap.

"We're clear!" Franco barked out as he reloaded his primary weapon. "Let's move up!"

Davis began rushing out first after getting back on his feet, cutting through under the catwalk diagonally to the left, before he snuck into cover behind a large, rectangular wooden crate. In a near distance ahead of him, four militants clad in black military gear stormed forward, all of them holding in one hand of what appeared to be protective shields made of clear polycarbonate in front. They began firing their sub-machine guns at the Spartans that rushed swiftly to cover behind boxes and crates.

"Hostiles with riot shields up ahead!" Brooks blared off. "Get around and flank 'em!"

The Spartans returned fire at the militants that covered themselves with the protective equipment in front of their bodies, the bullets sparking off and deflecting away from the shields. Ducking behind the wooden crate, Davis reached out for a metal canister on his belt that was marked with a thick red line around it. Pulling away at the pin, Davis quickly popped out from behind the box and threw the canister directly at the space closely in between the four shielded hostiles that converged. The armed gunmen began screaming and wailing out in Russian as flames spread around them, the intense blazes burnt around their uniforms that were not flame-resistant. Throwing their shields and guns away, the burning hostiles began beating away at the blazes wildly consuming them. All four Spartans then fired away at once, taking down the four militants that were busy trying to distinguish the fires all over them.

Once the fires died down, the team leader peeked out from his cover to see four charred-up corpses of the men that were razed by the flames, thin black smoke wafting in the air from the badly-burnt bodies.

"We're clear," Brooks panted.

Vaulting over the wooden crate, Davis rejoined with the rest of his team as they approached a set of sliding doors half a kilometre ahead.

"_Spartan, you've got multiple hostiles closing in," _the head operator came on the radio. _"There's an unmanned vehicle near your position. Can you reach it?"_

"Yeah, we're movin' to," Brooks responded.

"_Copy. Get to extraction, ASAP."_

Stacking up against the doors, two men on each side and one behind the other, Davis got into position behind the left door with Castle on the right. Right away, both of them slid the doors open that gave way for Brooks and Franco to rush out with their weapons drawn. Davis and Castle followed, with Franco shutting the doors closed, as the Spartans made their way out of the hangar. Locating the militarized 4WD to their right, Davis rushed over to the vehicle first, climbing aboard and onto the vehicle's mounted gunner position in doing so. Castle and Brooks climbed onto the vehicle and sat themselves down at the back end of the 4WD behind Davis, with Franco hopping onto the driver's seat.

"Come on, let's punch it!" Davis hollered at Franco, manning the mounted rotary gun.

Franco gave a loud grunt of determination as he smashed his foot onto the acceleration pedal, the 4WD taking right off and away. As the vehicle approached the underpass of a large building that was still under construction, Davis focused his sights on the jet airliner far to his right, which was now making its approach towards lifting off from the runway. Suddenly, an armoured truck rocketed from their left, its mounted gunner firing away at the 4WD before it careened around and slammed into them.

"Contact, left!" Brooks directed. "Hostile truck!"

Davis fired the mounted rotary gun at the armoured truck that now passed in front of them to their left. Heavy bullet rounds pierced through the truck with the mounted gunner firing at them from behind. A couple of hostile militants on foot began rushing towards exit of the underpass, as the armoured truck raced around them. The young Spartan kept the triggers pushed down on the rotary gun, as its bullets shredded through the two gunmen on foot that rushed towards them.

"Let's go, let's go!" Davis yelled, the heavy rounds from the mounted gunner of the truck nearly missing him.

Franco steered the 4WD around the slain foot mobiles to the right, before jerking the steering wheel to straighten the vehicle as it was about to enter another underpass of a different building.

"Right, right!" Castle shouted.

Davis turned the rotary gun further to his right, firing heavy sprays at the hostile foot mobiles that fired their semi-automatic rifles at them. Castle clipped down the two foot soldiers by the far-right side of the underpass, just as Davis fired a few heavy rounds that punctured the armoured truck's tires, sending it careening out of control and causing it to crash into some scaffolding and exploding in flames. Castle fired his rifle again, this time at a couple of armed sentinels on top of the scaffolding ahead, both men falling from the platforms as they were shot down.

Brooks turned around to see what was ahead of them. "Straight ahead!"

Positioning the rotary gun back to face forward, Davis noticed a cluster of enemy foot mobiles that rushed into their direction and fired at the vehicle they were in. The young Spartan fired down on the rotary gun, mowing down a few hostile gunmen on foot, while Brooks also clipped down another couple of them that remained. Franco jerked the steering wheel to the right, as the 4WD made its way onto the runway, with the jet airliner gaining speed behind them. Another armoured truck barrelled its way from their left, almost slamming into them, before it drove wide enough behind the vehicle as its mounted gunner fired oppressive rounds at them. Davis continued to fire the rotary gun as he focused in on the armoured truck that was close behind the plane, the truck exploding into a massive fireball that had also collected a few foot mobiles that were on the tarmac.

Heavy machine gun rounds almost caught Davis from his left and behind, as he swiveled the rotary gun around to fire at another armoured truck that joined in on the scene. Franco turned the 4WD around to the left, driving off the runway as the jet airliner began deploying its thrusters from the engines fixed below its wings, the plane about to take off.

"There's the bird!" Brooks bellowed out. "She's airborne!"

Franco turned his head back. "How long 'til she detonates?"

As the airplane began taking off from the airstrip, the right wing of the aircraft exploded into a massive fireball that ripped the whole wing apart, a large blaze streaking away from the side of the plane.

He then whipped his head back to see the explosion in front of his eyes. "Never mind!"

The jet airliner began to deviate its course from the major amount of damage it took, before it veered downward to the left and crash-landed a short distance off from the runway, bursting into a giant fireball that shot upward and sending debris everywhere. The tremendous explosions caused the grounds to tremble severely, almost resulting in Franco losing control of the military vehicle. Davis fought off another armoured truck that came from behind and right, firing heavy spatters at the armoured truck now in front, just before it burst into flames.

"We gotta move!" Brooks shouted.

The massive fires began to blaze from the wreckage of the plane, as another armoured truck began to cut off the Spartans inside the 4WD that swerved to the right. Some of the bullets from the mounted gunner aboard the armoured truck in front of them had bounced off of the roll cage and deflected away from the armour covering their upper-body areas. Davis continuously fired at the hostile truck that was in front of them until it burst into a blazing fireball, Franco desperately steering the vehicle around the burning truck at the last possible moment. Davis swivelled the rotary gun to face the back of the 4WD as he fired down on the foot mobiles that remained, along with an armoured truck way behind them.

"R.P.G.!" Brooks screamed. "Watch it!"

One of the hostile gunmen far ahead to their right fired a mini-warhead that narrowly missed the militarized 4WD. Without warning, there were more armoured trucks that were now surrounding them, the mounted gunners began firing at the light vehicle.

"Get fire on those guys, or we'll never make it!" Brooks roared as he shot at the hostile truck behind him.

Davis turned the rotary gun around as a shower of bullets narrowly missed him, as he fired down on a hostile truck to his right. Swerving around in an attempt to shake off the attacking vehicles around, Franco found an open gap between the large blast fences that was blown out by the crashed airplane. The 4WD jumped off from the open gap and landed harshly onto the grounds away from the airstrip, before it raced down a trail with a couple of armoured trucks in pursuit. One of the armoured trucks blew up in flames as Davis shot it down with the rotary gun facing towards the back end of the 4WD.

"On the right!" Castle shouted.

Davis directed the rotary gun to the left, before he fired upon the armoured truck that was now on the other side of the smouldering line of trees. The armoured truck then spun around before it rolled over violently, just as Franco pulled a hard left turn that led the 4WD sailing over a huge gap, before it ended up planting its wheels against the large piles of solid earth. Clouds of dirt and dust kicked up, as the 4WD plowed into the uplifted mounds of soil, just before all of the Spartans were able to exit the vehicle without any harm.

"Well, yeah, that worked!" Franco stepped out of the vehicle.

As the Spartans began moving on foot again, they rushed down the site of the plane's wreckage. Flames were everywhere, with large and small pieces of debris from the airliner having littered the grounds ahead.

"Yeeeah, I'm pretty sure we got it," Franco remarked.

"Command, Spartan has visual confirmation," Brooks communicated. "Target is destroyed."

"_Acknowledged," _the head operator firmly responded.

Davis led the way as he ran up a slope of dirt and soil past the flames and debris, making his way onto solid concrete as he made his way towards a small flight of stairs through the fogging clouds of smoke. Before he can even reach the flight of stairs, he could see a glint of light coming off from the catwalk high above, fixed to the wall of a large structure. The glint instantly became a muzzle flash, as the staff sergeant quickly dodged a sniper round that created a baseball-sized hole in the concrete, and slid right behind a wall to his right.

"Enemy snipers!" Castle cried out as he got behind a metallic box. "Up on the catwalks!"

Shouts and yells of Russian came from behind them, before blustering pops of gunfire can be heard from the direction of the voices in the distance.

"They're comin' up from behind us!" Brooks shrilled out, turning around to open fire at the hostile foot mobiles that trailed them from the distance.

Franco also fired at the attacking assailants behind them, before he dodged a barrage of .50 caliber rounds from the enemy marksmen on top of the catwalks.

The two hostile marksmen stationed at the catwalk continued to fire at the Spartans that took cover behind the boxes. Poking his head out as the snipers were busy firing at the other three men, Davis could pinpoint where they were based on the muzzle flashes through the thick smoke. Drawing his suppressed marksman rifle, Davis peeked away from the corner of the wall and fired at one of the enemy snipers, picking him off from the catwalk. He then steadied his aim right away and fired another shot that took out the other militant toting a long-range rifle.

"Let's move, let's move!" Brooks shouted, as he darted off from his cover and raced up the short flight of stairs.

Davis followed him as he got off from behind the wall, with Castle and Franco behind him as they fended off the remaining riflemen that trailed from the back. Brooks sprinted across the bridge, rushing up a small flight of stairs, cornering left and racing past another small flight of stairs. He stopped before a pair of metal doors, removing the used-up magazine on his rifle before quickly pushing in a new magazine and pulling at the charging handle on his gun. Davis and the other two Spartans caught up to him, as they stacked up against the pair of doors in the same positions they were in for every time they breached. Franco was in position behind the right door, with Castle at the left, both sliding the doors open at the same time for Brooks and Davis to charge right in.

Castle followed them in as Franco watched their six, before he too, had rushed into the entrance of a sewer tunnel. Davis quickly shut the doors closed behind them, before he joined the rest of the team as they walked forward before heading right.

"Command, this is Spartan," Brooks communicated as they went down a slope of piled gravel, and into the filthy waters of the sewers. "Do you copy?"

"_We read you, Spartan," _the head operator confirmed. _"What's your status?"_

"I think we got someone's attention," the team leader replied, trudging through the murky waters.

"_Can you reach extraction?"_

"Looks like it. We're moving out now!"

"_We've got fast movers on standby, just in case," _the head operator responded. _"We'll direct 'em your way if you need 'em."_

"Copy that!" Brooks responded, as they climbed up a few stairways and out of the sewer waters.

Coming up a short, but inclined slope, the Spartans crossed a narrow walkway to their right, before they went left and down another slope. They went across the sewer waters again to their left, before they came up a few stairs onto solid ground and went up a slope that led them finding their way down a corridor, to their right. It was then that Brooks began to sprint down the narrow hallway full of rusted metal pipes on the walls, with some of the pipes leaking out vapours of steam, as Davis followed him.

"I think we stirred 'em up, Chief," Davis told Brooks in front of him. "We'd better get out of here soon."

"With luck, they're too busy putting out fires," Franco added in his remark as he followed the team leader down a slope to their left, climbing up another one onto the solid concrete of a narrow walkway.

"We take it as it comes," Brooks intonated in his response, heading right and across the walkway. "And if it goes too far south, we've got help from on high. Just hope it doesn't come to that."

Brooks went left and dropped down from the walkway, with Davis following him. Castle and Franco rushed down the declining slope, as the team of four entered the dirty waters in the sewer tunnels again, the waters now being waist-deep as they traversed their way forward. Coming across the path being blocked-off by a row of metal bars, Brooks found a ladder fixed to the walls off to his right, before he allowed Davis to climb them up first. Climbing up the steel rungs of the ladder, Davis found himself onto higher ground in the form of another hallway within the sewage system. Franco and Castle climbed their way up and joined him as well, before Brooks finally regrouped with the team, as they rushed down the short stretch of the hallway and headed left.

Stopping behind a pair of metal doors, the squad of four stacked up against them in the same positions much like the previous times, with Castle preparing to open up the right door and Brooks at the left. At the same time, both swung the doors open, Davis and Franco rushing out with their guns drawn out. Brooks followed them out the doors, with Castle joining in last, closing the doors shut behind the three men. Once they were outside at a parking lot, Brooks noticed that the extraction point was now within a half-kilometre distance.

"This it, people!" Brooks bellowed out. "Go!"

As they rushed towards where the extraction point was, they scrambled towards cover behind a few civilian vehicles as muzzle flashes came from ahead in the near distance.

"We've got company!" Brooks shouted, as he peeked around the corners of an S.U.V. before returning back behind it.

"Hostiles, up ahead!" Castle growled out, sliding behind an old hatchback.

In front of them and past a small construction yard, a cargo truck had stopped at a road with a squad of seven armed guards rushing out, a few of them firing from behind the truck while another four charged from the right. Stray bullets came flying across, piercing a spatter of holes on the parked vehicles, glass shattering into shards from the windows as the foot mobiles continued to fire. Castle and Franco focused in on the hostile militants taking positions behind a couple of large pipes sitting on the dried soil of the construction site. The Spartans returned fire against the squadron of guards that advanced through the yard, before they took cover behind the vehicles as a couple of hostiles armed with light-machine guns began suppressing them.

"Command, we could use that support, right about now!" Brooks hollered over the communications.

"_The bird is airborne, Spartan," _the head operator instantly responded. _"Your international incident's on its way."_

Davis unloaded multiple sprays of bullet fire at the rushing hostile troopers out in the open, picking off a few that ran across the construction grounds. He then dashed from the side of a pickup truck before going behind the back of a sport utility vehicle. More hostile guards came from the left side of the road, a few of them cutting through the construction yard before they rushed out to the right side of the parking lot.

"They're trying to flank us!" Castle roared, before he opened fire on a couple of gunmen that exposed themselves as they ran and shot at the Specters.

"More riflemen ahead!"

Chunks of concrete of the barricades lining the side of the parking lot were blasted away by enemy fire, with a militant tossing a frag grenade directly at Davis' direction. In a split second, the young Spartan whipped around and sprinted before he dove to the ground as the grenade exploded, breaking up pieces of rubble and throwing them in the air. The staff sergeant picked up from his feet as he scrambled towards the side of a parked station wagon.

"They're by the bus shelter!" Franco shouted as he fired through the glass of the enclosure, the bullets striking through a couple of men behind it.

Castle fired off his personal defence weapon from the corner of a car, clipping down a line of four men that charged from the left of the intersecting road. "Targets are down!"

"Reloading!" Brooks threw away a spent clip, before jamming in a new one.

Davis scrambled away from the station wagon and right behind a chipped-out concrete barrier at the right side of the parking lot, throwing another incendiary grenade at a small gaggle of foot soldiers coming in from the left of the bus shelter across the road. A large burst of fire collected three men that were caught unaware by the grenade, as they threw their rifles off and screamed while beating away at the flames that spread all over them. While a couple of armed gunmen made it around the back of the parking lot, a hostile militant tossed a flash grenade at Davis behind the barrier. The flash grenade sailed over Davis as he shielded himself from the blinding flash the grenade made as it exploded. As he turned around to his right, Davis was caught off-guard a blast of machine-gun rounds that caused him to fall on his back, with the two riflemen firing and approaching towards the side of a black-and-yellow car.

Drawing out his sidearm, Davis fired off his handgun at one of the riflemen behind the car, killing him instantly. The other rifleman was then shot down by Castle, who was behind the front of a sedan. Franco peeked around and unloaded a whole clip on a few remaining gunmen behind the bus shelter, more glass being broken away into smaller, sharp fragments. He returned back behind his cover, reloading the ammunition on his P.D.W. with a new magazine. A large concentration of foot mobiles fired from the wooden fences across the road, with a light-machine gunner suppressing down Brooks and Davis who were behind the vehicles.

"Shit!" Franco cursed over the radio. "They got us pinned down!"

Castle popped out and blasted a sniper round past the heads of three gunmen. "You don't say?!" He shouted.

"I don't know!" Franco intonated loudly, before he peeked around again and fired another several bursts that took down a few sentinels across the road. "Maybe we can hold 'em off with a tank!"

"Ya think?!" Castle shouted again, before he picked off a few more hostiles running down the roads.

Out of nowhere, a hostile linear tank bulldozed its way past the top of a warehouse off to the Specters' north-west, throwing rubble and debris everywhere in the air, and crushing the burnt-out shell of a bus below like a soda can as its treads landed firmly onto the solid ground.

Franco panicked and scrambled back behind cover as he saw the tank making its way. "Oh shit," he cursed. "They got one."

"We got armour inbound!" Davis roared out as he was behind the side of a sport utility vehicle.

"Get to cover!" Brooks screamed.

The cannon of the linear tank turned towards the parking out and fired a heavy blast that blew out a large section of the building near it. Franco avoided some of the debris that came down from the wall above, as he scrambled towards the back of a car that Castle was by its left side. Heavy gunfire bombarded the Spartans from the wooden fences across the road, while the linear tank fired another round that blew up the black-and-yellow car sky high, before it landed hard on the ground in flames.

"I'm pinned down!" Davis blared out, as he avoided light-machine gun fire from across.

The blustering booms of gunfire intensified with most of the shots coming from the large group of militants behind the wooden fences. The Spartans kept returning back fire as they tried all they can to fend off the reinforcements that came from left and right of them. Another blast of the tank's cannon obliterated a station wagon that was all but smouldering in flames, the force of the impact shaking the ground hard enough for Davis to lose his footing again.

"_Spartan, strike's on the way!" _The head operator communicated right away. _"Send it in!"_

Withstanding the heavy fire coming from the tank's mounted gunner and the ground troops with light-machine guns, Davis got himself back up on his feet before he crouched behind the far-left end of the vehicle's passenger side. Mini-warheads whistled away as they zipped and slammed into the wall of the building as the surging militants with rocket launchers fired, before they reloaded. Rapidly tapping away at the buttons on his left gauntlet, Davis managed to access the camera feed of a guided missile fired from the skies above, directing the large warhead towards the tank pinning them down. As the guided missile neared within striking distance, Davis directed it towards the linear tank, before he heard a tremendous explosion that rocked the ground to its very core.

The gunfire that came from the hostile troops had ceased instantly, as the Spartans slowly emerged from their covers and spectated the sights in front of them. What remained of the linear tank that fired on them, had now been turned into scrapped metal that burned up, the top-half detached from the violent force of the impact. Bodies of hostile militants littered the lands across the road, with limbs scattered around the areas. The eerie sounds of tranquility came upon the air for the first time, as the Spartans strolled through slowly with their weapons lowered down.

"We're clear!" Brooks finally breathed out.

A few tense moments of silence followed, before the head operator came on the radio.

"_Well…took care of the weapon system. We'll just have to wait and see what we get for fallout."_

The team of four then heard the rumbling and buzzing sounds of a helicopter's rotors, just before they turned around and saw a transport helicopter approaching them in the skies, as it dropped a cable down onto the ground. All of the Spartans then hooked up to the cable, before they were lifted up and away into the skies, as the chopper carried them back to the support ship that was waiting for them.

* * *

_**Four hours later…**_

**February 14, C.E. 93  
****North Sea, Eternal-class ship **_**Polemos  
**_**0200 Hours**

Two technicians stationed at the closed-off docking bay worked tirelessly on the Combat Rover, as one cleared away the snow and ice that was built-up on the joints and crevices of the machine, while the other used a wireless repairing system that consisted of a large console and an unmanned repair tool in the shape of a boxy security camera. The technician behind the console directed the repair tool in the air, before he pressed a button that fired off a red laser beam from the tool that floated in the air, sealing off the wiring that was torn off inside the ground drone.

"Those goddamn bastards," the technician clearing the ice on the drone had cursed out. "I don't know what they did to this poor thing, but this is madness!"

"Take it easy, man," the spiky-haired technician manning the console spoke in his eased-up tone. "It's not their fault that the Rover had to suffer through all of it."

"Well, I don't give a fuck," the buzz-cut male in his orange service uniform retorted. "If they wanted to mess something up like this one, then Hell, they'd better trash something bigger like a damn plane while they're at it."

"Hey, did you see that episode on T.V. last night?" The technician in the blue service uniform asked, breaking away from the previous subject at hand.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I don't know what the people were talking about. You know? They'd said it was a recap episode, but I thought it was something more than that."

"Something like adding more background to the character? A highly elaborate point-of-view from said character?" The technician with buzz-cut hair had shrugged lightly.

"Yeah, something like that…"

"I don't know," the orange-suited technician responded. "From what I can tell, it probably wasn't that bad like what some people were making it out to be…unlike what we have to come across here!"

Castle cleared his throat loudly behind the technician in the orange-coloured uniform, startling the man as he jumped at the sound.

"S-s-sir!"

"Are you guys finished yet?" Castle calmly asked, scrunching his eyebrows angrily.

"N-no, sir!" The technician stammered fearfully. "We're just about three-quarters of a way!"

Castle sighed inwardly as he relaxed a bit. "Don't quit your day job, then." He thinly smiled.

He patted the technician on the back a couple of times, before he walked off from the scene. The technician raised his eyebrows in confusion as he stared at Castle strolling away casually, with the other technician looking at him weirdly.

At the room that the Spartans were staying in, Castle stepped through the open doorway, as he saw the three Spartans stationed by their bunk beds. Franco laid down on his bunk bed, listening to his favourite songs on his smartphone through his earphones, while he scanned through the multiple text messages he had received. Brooks was by his bed, doing a series of push-ups on the ground. Castle then glanced upon Davis to his left, who had only sat down on the edge of his bed silently, his head having lowered in a bowing position and seemingly staring at blank space. The Englishman then tended by his side, sitting down beside him.

"Hey," Castle spoke at Davis, who didn't answer back. "How're you doing?"

Davis did not answer right away, as he still stared down with a stoic expression, breathing in deeply before exerting his breath out in a long few seconds.

"I know it's hard, Davis," Castle continued quietly. "Having caught up in situations like these, where you're pretty much in a life or death struggle. I've been through these before, but in the end we do pull out from these struggles that try to get at our way."

Castle then patted him on the back a few times, before he returned his arm back as soon as he realized that Davis still did not respond. The black-haired male's eyes narrowed a bit, as Castle turned away from him and gave an audible sigh.

"That's all I have to say, then," he rose up from the edge of the bed. "Sorry for bothering you at a time like this."

Just as the dirty-blond male stepped away, he heard a subdued voice come from Davis.

"No…it's not that."

Castle turned his head around to face Davis, who had finally spoke.

"I'm still thinking about what was going on during the past few days," Davis quietly said. "What happened in Nigeria…in Bolivia…I can't actually explain what's happening to me."

Castle raised his eyebrows. "About what?"

Before the black-haired male with glasses answered him, there were a few knocks on the door, causing all of the Spartans to direct their attention at the person standing by the open doorway.

"Sorry to interrupt you guys," a man in a black-and-purple uniform with the nametape of 'Henderson' had cut in, "but you're all needed at the bridge this instant!"

Castle raised an eyebrow in confusion, while Davis looked up and the two others got up and off on their feet.

"What's going on?" Castle asked under his breath.

As the four ZAFT Specters made their way towards the bridge of the ship, they were greeted by the blond captain who was in front of them.

"Captain," Brooks greeted back.

"I believe the commander has something to discuss for all of you," Captain Elsman spoke. "Here, I'll put up the signal for you guys."

The captain of the Polemos then sat down on his seat, before he tapped a series of buttons in front of him that started up a visual feed on the large tele-screen high-up in front, amid a row of panels from left to right. The large screen flashed a series of static lines, before the white-coated brunette showed up on the display.

"_Gentlemen,"_ the commander spoke in his earnest tone.

"Commander Yamato," Brooks responded back as he stood facing the tele-screen amongst the squad. "You wanted to talk to us?"

"_I do," _Kira replied from the screen, before he sighed deeply, _"and unfortunately, I have distressing news to confer with you...it's about the people who played a major part in Team Roman's passing."_

Brooks paused as he tensed up. "Go ahead."

"_Previously, we were unable to fully confirm and identify the faction that was responsible for the events that happened a month ago,"_ the commander explained. _"That is, until we ran through a close analysis and cross-referencing, using the two logos that were captured from the mission in Peru and in Arctic Russia."_

A few shivers ran down the spines of the Spartans, as they continued to hear from the commander.

"_The pieces have fit together perfectly,"_ Commander Yamato spoke grimly, _"and it comes with a heavy heart to say who is behind the killings of our men."_

"Who are they, commander?" Brooks asked him.

"_According to our sources, this hardline faction is heavily linked to an ultra-nationalist movement in the eastern part of the Eurasian Federation that was sparked 10 years ago,"_ Kira explained, only to pause before he continued. _"Over time, they gained enough support in numbers to establish themselves as a rising military power through illegal arms trading, which may be the reason why we had found those weapons in the Kola Peninsula."_

At once, every Spartan standing in a row had their eyes widen up in shock, including Davis. Dearka Elsman, the captain of the ship, had also rose up from the seat and was deeply disturbed at the revelations that the commander had brought upon them.

The commander then gave a deep sigh of dolefulness. _"Gentlemen, we may be facing a much bigger enemy than we had expected the whole time."_

A long, tense pause followed.

"…_And that faction,"_ Kira revealed in his dreaded tone, _"is known as the Nocturnal Front."_

_**To be continued in PHASE-08: "Shadows Rising".**_

* * *

**That's the end right there, folks! Now we have learned the identity of the group that was behind all of what happened up to this point. I don't really have much to note about, other than the fact that Terminal still exists in this story. And with the antagonists of the story finally revealed, I will bring in what most of you Gundam fans have been waiting for in a long while…and yes, that means you, ExArchmagus! If you like this story, feel free to leave a comment (constructive criticism would be appreciated), put this story on your favourites list, or both. Stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	12. PHASE-08: Shadows Rising

**Author's Note: **Before you begin reading this chapter, I just want to thank everyone who has supported this fanfiction, including those who have left reviews and have put this story on their favourites list and alerts. At the beginning of the first chapter, I stated that this story would be darker and edgier than what was presented in both the original anime and the sequel to that. This will be exactly the case in this chapter, where it will contain scenes of heavy violence, cursing, and even death (to an extent). Given that this fanfic is intended for mature audiences, it shouldn't come as a surprise…and I'm just giving a heads up in advance to anyone who is about to read this chapter right now.

**Author's Note 2: **You may notice what appears to be a quotation right below this note, just before the chapter begins. I was thinking about including quotes from real-world figures in history that would be significant due to their relevance to the themes of this story. Every future chapter, starting from this one, will include a quotation that will share a common theme or more for this story.

* * *

"_Pronounce us guilty a thousand times over: the goddess of the eternal court of history will smile and tear to pieces the State Prosecutor's submissions and the court's verdict; for she acquits us."_

—_Adolf Hitler, 1924_

* * *

**Voltage Axe Presents**

_**Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Reflex**_

**PHASE-08: Shadows Rising**

* * *

_**Previously, on Gundam SEED Reflex…**_

_"I don't think anyone was expecting what you uncovered," Commander Kira Yamato intonated in his earnest tone. "That amount of military-grade hardware shouldn't have been a surprise, and that's got people worried."_

_The squad of four Specters moved while crouching across the tall and thick brush all over the area that was also sprawled with redwood trees that stood under the night skies._

_"Volkov is linked to a hardline faction that we are very close to fully identifying, but its origins are from Russia. We're still working connections, but this thing runs deep."_

_Brooks began to notice from the railings of the walkway, the twin-engine jet airliner that was stationary inside the hangar had now began to move, its engines spinning to life. _

_Kira continued, "In the meantime, Terminal says this faction is moving a top-grade system into the hands of some truly vile people." He paused. "I'll tell you up front—this op is a bad idea. You know it, I know it…and we'll do it anyway."_

_"Bomb's on target!" The staff sergeant shouted._

_As the airplane began taking off from the airstrip, the right wing of the aircraft exploded into a massive fireball that ripped the whole wing apart, a large blaze streaking away from the side of the plane. The jet airliner began to deviate its course from the major amount of damage it took, before it veered downward to the left and crash-landed a short distance off from the runway, bursting into a giant fireball that shot upward and sending debris everywhere._

_"Command, we could use that support, right about now!" Brooks hollered over the communications._

_"The bird is airborne, Spartan," the head operator instantly responded. "Your international incident's on its way."_

_"I'm pinned down!" Davis blared out, as he avoided light-machine gun fire from across._

_"Spartan, strike's on the way!" The head operator communicated right away. "Send it in!"_

_As the guided missile neared within striking distance, Davis directed it towards the linear tank, before he heard a tremendous explosion that rocked the ground to its very core._

_"We're clear!" Brooks finally breathed out._

_"Well…took care of the weapon system. We'll just have to wait and see what we get for fallout."_

_"Sorry to interrupt you guys," a man in a black-and-purple uniform with the nametape of 'Henderson' had cut in, "but you're all needed at the bridge this instant!"_

_"What's going on?" Castle asked under his breath._

"_I have distressing news to confer with you...it's about the people who played a major part in Team Roman's passing," Kira explained through the tele-screen._

_Brooks paused as he tensed up. "Go ahead."_

_"The pieces have fit together perfectly," Commander Yamato spoke grimly, "and it comes with a heavy heart to say who is behind the killings of our men."_

_"Who are they, commander?" Brooks asked him._

_The commander then gave a deep sigh of dolefulness. "Gentlemen, we may be facing a much bigger enemy than we had expected the whole time."_

_A long, tense pause followed._

_"…And that faction," Kira revealed in his dreaded tone, "is known as the Nocturnal Front."_

* * *

_**February the 14th.**_

_**Cosmic Era 93.**_

_*bzzzcchhhtt*_

"_Good morning to our viewers across the British Isles, as we set for the Universal Day of Remembrance commemorations, honouring those who had lost their lives in the Bloody Valentine Wars," the male newscaster announced. "The local time right now is at 7:00 A.M., just as thousands are gathered at the war memorials all over the country—"_

_*bzzzchtt*_

"_We now get to see the parade of floats moving down along the stretch," a female newscaster spoke in French, "Of course these floats are themed in the celebration of peace and harmony uniting people together, regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, or genetic type—"_

_*bzzztt*_

"_Everything's coming along smoothly in the heart of Johannesburg, where the large crowds are celebrating the long-lasting peace, as gatherers on the streets lit candles and white doves were released into the skies—"_

_*bzzztt*_

"_N-now, hold—hold on a minute here," an American male reporter had cut in. "I just want to break away from the coverage in India for a moment, as I have just received word that there have been violent conflicts spreading across the eastern-end of Russia, and we're taking you there live right now—"_

_*bzzztt*_

"_We have video footage of what appears to be a convoy of military tanks and trucks moving in on a city in Kazakhstan—"_

_*bzzzzz*_

"_This just in! Unknown hostile forces have overwhelmed the majority of Russia, resulting in large civilian casualties—"_

_*bzzzt*_

"_Breaking news! The western-end of Eurasia is under heavy assault by hostile forces that have yet to be identified—"_

_*bzzzcht*_

"_I can hear the gunfire getting louder and louder behind me, as the alarms are blaring across Lyon that is now up in smoke," a male correspondent reported, before he looked up at the skies. "And I can see what appears to be Eurasian gunships heading towards the origins of the gunfire—"_

_*bzzchtt*_

"_We return with breaking news at this moment, and it appears that all of Eurasia is lost to unidentified hostile forces that are reported to have emerged from the eastern part of the state," a Canadian male newscaster spoke very grimly. "And I now have word that the leader of the Eurasian Federation, Władyslaw Szabo, is reported to be missing—"_

_*bzzzzttt*_

"_Aw man, these things are so cool," a short-haired brunette male directed his hands at a red telephone box, "get a shot of this!"_

_His friend, holding a camcorder, directed it at the kiosk. "Like people get in it?" He asked._

"_Yeah, no, for real…it's a phone, man, what do you think it does?" _

_*bzzt*_

_A British male then cut past the two men in a rude manner._

"_Sorry, mate," the man muttered under his breath as he passed them by._

"_For what?" The American brunette male responded, before he faced the video camera again. "Anyway, it's from before they had—"_

_*bzzt*_

"_I don't know, I just thought it was cool," the man holding the camcorder intonated, just as the brunette male he was facing had caught something behind him._

_The brunette man then pointed his finger upward at the skies. "What's that?"_

_The cameraman then slowly turned around to direct the lens of the device at the partly-cloudy skies, before focusing in on an object that glimmered through the skies, leaving a noticeable trail of smoke behind it. _

"_A weird looking plane," the friend holding the camcorder remarked, before he lowered the camera to face the brunette male again. "I don't think that's a plane, man."_

"_No, no, no, wait," the black-suited man gestured to him, "keep filming it."_

_Reluctantly following his friend's advice, the man holding the camera directed it at the bright and shining object and tracked it, as the projectile travelled towards the side of a skyscraper. _

"_Yeah, okay," the cameraman responded sarcastically. "It'll get like, two hits on the web…"_

_Just before the projectile was about to strike the side of the skyscraper, a large explosion tore through the air in a thunderous roar, a monstrous fireball erupting from where the projectile was. The sheer force of the tremendous blast had rattled the ground from below, setting off car alarms, as well as tearing out a large chunk of the glass skyscraper. Millions of shards were raining down from the windows of the skyscraper and the other tall buildings that burst downward, like dominoes falling._

_Screams and yells of terror and panic ruptured through the streets, as the black-suited brunette civilian tried to avoid the sharp pieces of glass that fell all over the passers-by below._

"_WATCH IT, MAN! OH SHIT!" The cameraman shouted at his friend, who cowered behind a parked station wagon before he darted across the street of an intersection. "FUCK! WATCH OUT!"_

_Several cars that were on the intersecting roads caught by the raining pieces of sharp shards, ran into each other in a massive pile-up, horns blaring frantically before some of them had crashed into each other. The sound of metal crunching against metal rang in the midst of screaming civilians that ran for their lives, as the black-suited tourist rushed out into the road._

"_Hey!" The brunette shouted. "Stop the bus, stop the bus!"_

_He instantly jolted back from an S.U.V. that blew past him, before it smashed into the side of a hatchback with violent force. The double-decker bus then skidded to a halt, as the man pounded on the windows with the palms of his hands. Passengers inside the bus had watched in shock and horror, before a smattering of glass shards landed onto the brunette male, cutting away at his skin. _

"_Dude, are you alright?" The cameraman hysterically shouted, before he froze up as he saw his friend bleeding away on the sides of his face and hands, the shards having slashed through the skin and leaving deep cuts. _

_A series of shrieks and frightened screams pierced through the streets, catching the cameraman off guard as he quickly directed his camera at a large pile of concrete and rubble falling from the large hole in the skyscraper, just before they landed onto the crowd of people that ran on the sidewalks._

"_Holy shit…HOLY SHIT!" The cameraman bellowed out in fear, witnessing the heavy chunks of concrete crushing the civilians that were on the sidewalk by the buildings. "OH MY GOD! FUUUCK!"_

"_Shut it off, man! QUIT FILMING!" The brunette man shouted at him as he kept running down across the street. _

_Out of nowhere, a motorcyclist on his vehicle collided with an incoming taxicab that sent the driver flying off and onto the hood of the taxi._

"_SHIT! Did you see that?!" The dark-suited brunette hollered. "DID YOU SEE THAT?!"_

_More shards of glass fell from above, before several large pieces of it landed through the body of the motorcyclist that laid on the hood of the cab, the cameraman was now scared shitless by what he had seen. He then bolted away to catch up with the brunette man that was bleeding from his cuts, as they made their way onto the sidewalks through the deadly shower of sharp glass pieces. _

"_LOOK OUT, LOOK OUT!" The brunette man fell on his knees as a sedan veered out of control and slammed straight into a pole in front of them._

_The man holding the camera then spun around to catch a more horrifying glimpse of people behind them, having caught in the sharp fragments of glass that overwhelmed them. A few men and women out on the roads had collapsed to the ground in pools of blood from the hundreds of glass shards that penetrated their bodies. Other civilians on foot kept moving, sustaining multiple cuts and gashes from the sharp fragments that sliced through their skins. _

"_Oh my God, bro," the terrified cameraman reacted as he saw a couple of locals helping the injured off of the roads as glass fell on them. "Oh my God, bro—"_

"_COME ON, THIS WAY!" The brunette man guided him as they ran. "THIS WAY!"_

_Blowing past a group of shocked bystanders and a couple of policemen, both of them stopped as they saw two men helping another man who was bleeding profusely from the neck down, crimson-red fluids pouring out from his mouth. Another person had vomited a heavy amount of blood onto the pavement, while a pickup truck screeched its brakes on the road before it collided with the back of a car._

"_Look at that dude, he's all fucked up, man!" The brunette male reacted hysterically._

_*bzzt*_

"_SHUT THE DAMN CAMERA OFF!" He shouted angrily at his friend._

_*bzzt*_

"_NO, I'M FINE! GET OFF ME!" The brunette man struggled against a few bystanders that wanted to help him, before he dashed across the road and tried to avoid the falling glass and debris._

_The cameraman ran after him, ignoring the dangers that still rained down on them._

"_Look out! LOOK OUT!" The brunette's friend screamed. "Run, man, RUN!"_

_The man with the camera in his hand was then struck by a pane of glass that fell from up high, as he collapsed to the ground on his back, the force of the impact knocking the camera off his hands. The dark-suited brunette then turned around to see his friend on the pavement, panicking away as several terrified men and women ran past him in both directions._

"_Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," the alarmed brunette jilted before he came by his side, on his knees and shaking his friend's lifeless body. "Are you alright? Come on man, get up!"_

"_SOMEBODY HELP ME!" The dark-suited American tourist cried out for assistance. "I NEED HELP HERE!"_

_Without warning, a black sedan barrelled through and plowed into the unsuspected tourist, before everything went dark as the camcorder was crushed by the vehicle._

_*bzzzzcchhhtttt*_

* * *

**February 14, C.E. 93  
****Washington, D.C., Atlantic Federation  
****1700 Hours**

"_An emergency meeting is being currently held at the White House, in the wake of the missile attack in London that has killed more than 65 people and injuring an estimate of 140," a British female newscaster reported._

_*bzzzt*_

"_And here, we see a line of limousines parked on the driveway near the North Portico of the White House," an American male newscaster explained. "The President of the Atlantic Federation has called for all leaders of the nations on Earth to gather there, after a deadly terrorist attack in London that was caused by hostile forces that had taken over Eurasia, in a span of no more than six hours—"_

_*bzzzt*_

"_One of the most prominent leaders on Earth, Chief Representative Cagalli Yula Zala of the Orb Union, will be included in the talks," a Canadian female news reporter briefed. "And now we see President Raymond Anderson welcoming the other leaders inside, as he is joined by Vice-President Scott Mitchell…"_

Inside the West Wing of the White House, several men and women were seated on the leathered swivel chairs lined around the table in the Roosevelt Room. Out of all the men and women that were dressed in formal clothing, a blonde female dressed in her white-and-blue military uniform had taken up a seat at the side of the table, opposite of where the President was to sit. Once all the leaders were seated and accounted for, a man in a black suit and tie with shades opened the door for two more men in the same clothing to come through, as they escorted a grey-suited Caucasian man with mahogany-brown hair into the room. Another group of three bodyguards escorted the Vice-President and a general dressed in his military uniform, as they made their way in the room.

Facing the governing administrators of all nations, the grey-suited brunette cleared his throat as he began to take his seat.

"Good evening," he greeted in a calm and polite manner before he firmly sat down on the seat, his hands folded on the flat surface of the table in front of him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have entered a perilous situation that is even more precarious than before," the president introduced in a grave tone of voice. "As all of you have already heard, a couple of hours ago at around 4:00 P.M. Eastern Time, the city of London was under attack from a ballistic missile that resulted in massive casualties."

"We do not know exactly where the missile was fired from," the general added as he explained, "but we do know that the weapon had originated somewhere in the south-eastern part of Eurasia, based on its trajectory."

The general from the A.F. military continued, "Latest reports have it that the missile in question is an intercontinental ballistic missile allegedly containing radioactive elements ten times stronger than the missiles used in the first two wars."

"Before the missile was fired at London," President Anderson carried on in his tensed-up tone, "there were unsettling accounts from verified sources on the hostile takeover of the Eurasian Federation by rogue forces that our agencies were unable to identify."

He paused in the ever-so-tense moment in the air, before he deeply inhaled and exerted his breath in sorrow and unease.

"What is even more unsettling," the Atlantic Federation President dreaded in fear, "are the concurrent reports stating that Władyslaw Szabo, the leader of the Eurasian Federation, had not turned up and is now presumed missing from the scene."

The male leader of the United States of South America sat up straight in his seat. "Do you suggest that Mr. Szabo had something to do with this hostile takeover?" He had spoken up.

"I doubt he could have been," President Anderson earnestly answered. "All of our intelligence agencies have reported that he did not have any connections with suspected groups or organizations related to criminal activities."

"We do have unconfirmed reports that this faction is tied to an ultra-nationalist movement that was previously underground," the female leader of the Equatorial Union stated. "What do you make of that, Mr. President?"

The grey-suited brunette had let out a quiet sigh. "While we know that this attack was caused by rogue operatives in Eurasia," he shifted his gaze from left to right through his narrowed eyes, "we cannot verify those unconfirmed rumours of such."

A brief pause. "My point is, ladies and gentlemen, is that until we actually know who or what we are dealing with, we must find the right time to do what is right," President Anderson insisted. "However, in times like these, we must take action immediately and do what is necessary. Mitchell?"

"Yes sir, Mr. President," the Vice-President nodded in response. "The Atlantic Federation proposes a new united body of the nations on Earth that were once under the former Alliance two decades ago," he explained. "This united body will cover every intelligence and government agency, as well as every military branch in the world, providing a more efficient and powerful response to combat this threat."

"Wait a minute," the male leader of the South African Union had cut in sharply, "are you trying to say that we should form a new Alliance of the Earth Sphere?"

"Make no mistake," President Anderson calmly insisted. "We believe that an establishment of such an agglomeration would be best to answer the situation that we are currently facing."

"This is insane!" The female governor of United Oceania argued aggressively. "Do you not realize the fact that, despite the effectiveness of this new Alliance, there would possibly be those who will pull at the strings of leadership? Just like what was seen in the second war!"

"But think about it," the male leader of the East Asian Republic interjected her. "Do we really want to solve this problem of such scale by ourselves, or do we actually solve this problem by working together as one?"

Right away, the leaders of all nations on Earth—excluding the President of the Atlantic Federation and a few other delegates—began to throw every argument at each other, fierce and rapidly in a large clamour. Accusations of anger and disruptive disagreements followed as the feuding leaders and governors took over the atmosphere of the room, every one of them verbally clashing against each other in the bickering exchanges that started to grow louder.

"_Now, you listen to me here—"_

The President of the Atlantic Federation sat silently on his chair, his hands stacked on top of the other flat on the surface of the table, as he continued to watch the arguments fly everywhere in the room. He remained eerily calm through his facial expression in a stoic manner, but began to express frustration and displeasure that heated up inside of him.

Suddenly, a loud smack erupted in the room that caught everyone by surprise, as a palm of a hand was laid on the table's surface with heavy force.

"_ENOUGH!_" The blonde woman in the Orb military uniform snapped as she rose up on her feet. "_Is this how we are able to talk to each other like this?!_ By acting like little children and having to argue against one another!"

The male and female leaders of all the nations focused their attention on Orb's lioness, the Chief Representative of the country, who was now seemingly in command of the conversations inside the room.

Cagalli gave a short huff. "We cannot just sit here and bicker amongst ourselves, while we are facing a looming threat in the distance," she sternly asserted, staring down at the representatives of all Earth nations with indignant eyes. "At the same time, if we are to solve this kind of trouble we are facing, then a new Alliance of the major states on Earth would _not_ be the solution."

"And what might you propose to solve all of this, Miss Zala?" The male leader of the East Asian Republic asked, an eyebrow shifted upward.

Another brief moment of silence came. There was more tension in the air than there was before, only to be broken apart by the Chief Representative of Orb.

"If we are to find a resolution for what was brought upon us through co-operation and understanding, then we must have every nation involved to do so," Cagalli explained in a less-exasperated tone. "Not just the nations that only make up the former Earth Alliance, but to also have the nations that played an important role in the past few wars."

She looked to her left and right to glance upon the faces of all the male and female leaders of different nations. Some of the men and women had given off expressions of their faces that indicated they were lost in her words, a few others had raised their eyebrows in confusion.

The blonde woman sighed quietly to herself. "Every one of you should know what I am trying to talk about," Cagalli insisted further in her explanation. "I am proposing a mutual coalition of all the nations on Earth, including the Orb Union, with additional and essential support from PLANT. With this coalition, we will be able to provide all suitable forms of response to this supposed threat that has now emerged, through an efficient network of intelligence and logistics."

A scoff of animosity came from the mouth of the male leading the United States of South America.

"Why should we get along with a country like yours?" He argued. "You and your nation's pacifistic approach to the three international conflicts didn't do any great favours for the people living there!"

"I beg your pardon!" Cagalli shot back at him. "As the current leader of Orb, I assert my responsibility to protect the civilians of the country from any violent action caused by another nation. Whatever happened on Orb during the first two wars was not a result of our nation's policies, nor our unwillingness to fight, but rather from those inside and outside the country that only wanted to break the integrity that we are firmly standing on."

"I agree with the Chief Representative's words," the senior male leader of the African Community acknowledged. "I would also back her idea of joining all nations together, if it means to achieve the peace that we all embrace after what we had been through."

Cagalli nodded slightly in response, as President Anderson thought for a few moments, before he could respond.

"I believe both ideas are viable options and are well-suited to answer the situation at hand," the grey-suited male intonated. "However, it is best to establish a new form of the Alliance in order to give a direct, and stronger response to those behind the attack on London."

"Sir!" Cagalli objected at his decision. "Do you not realize what reprehensible effect, or more, a new Alliance would have on the situation? We still don't know for sure of how much this group is capable of, let alone their motives behind the attack in particular!"

"Yes, I do understand that, Miss Zala," the Atlantic Federation President replied calmly. "However, we cannot just simply reason with a group of individuals that had sent a missile at London like that. We must do what is necessary, for whatever it takes to protect humanity at all costs."

The blonde woman then slowly sat down on her seat, giving off a sigh of defeat through a wearily-saddened expression on her face, as she leaned downward with her hands folded on top of each other.

"It is simply unfortunate to have something like this to happen," he remarked in a quiet, but dejected tone, "on a day where we are to remember the lives lost in the Bloody Valentine Wars…"

Suddenly, a faint rumble was heard in the very far distance, coming in from the eastward direction. The quieted noise had only caught the attention of a few delegates sitting at the table, as they began to look around with expressions of suspicion growing on their faces. This was followed with a much louder rumble, the noise loud enough to give off a light tremor that shook the ground beneath all of them, and causing some ripples to emerge on a cup filled with tea on the table. Some of the leaders gasped in shock, while others began asking and answering each other disconcertedly of where the noise was coming from. President Anderson shifted his gaze to the left and right cautiously, while the Vice-President and the general of the Atlantic Federation's military turned their heads around with nervous glances. A few leaders had stood up, alarmed by what was happening moments ago.

"_Where is that noise coming from?_"

* * *

At an underground military command center located in the depths of the Cheyenne Mountains in Colorado, hundreds of men and women scrambled around the massive space inside the bunker, as some men in white dress uniforms were working away on the computer equipment sitting on top of their desks. A senior operator dressed in his blue service uniform had glanced on the screen of his computer, at what appeared to be a large group of flashing red dots appearing off of the waters west of Alaska. Seeing the exact same picture that was now shown on the jumbo-sized screen on the wall a far distance in front of him, he immediately reached for a wireless handset and dialed in the number corresponding to a military installation in Alaska.

"Sand Bravo, we're reading 70 bogeys in your sector," the American male operator reported, "please verify."

A few moments of silence followed on the other end of the call, before a male operator at the Alaskan base answered back.

"_Very funny, Station,"_ the operator at the Nome Air Base sarcastically responded. _"That's a big negative, over."_

The flashing red dots that were off of the Alaskan state had now approached the lands displayed on the map, just as the grey-haired man in the blue uniform began tapping away at a series of buttons on his keyboard.

"Sand Bravo, be advised, running diagnostics to scan for malfunction," he communicated over the handset.

"_The skies are clear, Station,"_ the operator at Nome inspected on his screen. _"You got yourself some phantom dots. Over."_

Hanging up the call, the grey-haired man saw the red dots that flashed across Alaska had instantly disappeared, before he observed what appeared to be five large groups of 20 red dots that flashed off of the waters west of the mainland's Southwestern portion. Reaching for the handset again, he dialed in the number corresponding to another military air base located in California.

"Zulu X-Ray 6," the male operator called in. "Signs in your sector of some 100 bogeys, please advise!"

Light crackles of static followed, before the operator at Vandenberg came back with a response.

"_Negatory, Station,"_ the middle-aged male at Vandenberg Air Base reported. _"Scope is clear…I dunno what to tell ya. Solar interference? There's heavy sunspot activity today."_

Ending the call, the blue-shirted male wiped away at the sweat coming down his forehead with a sleeve of his shirt before he noticed through his suddenly-anxious gaze, the lack of activity indicated off of the eastern portion of the United States. As a precaution, he tapped in a few numbers that corresponded to an air traffic control tower in Washington.

"Sierra Delta, uh…we may have a minor A.C.S. fault here," the grey-haired operator spoke in his voice that was racked by nervousness. "Do you have anything on your scope?"

Static crackled through the receiving end of the handset, before the voice of an alarmed African-American blasted through the speakers.

"_THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!"_ The air traffic controller screamed with aghast.

Without any warning, several large clusters of flashing red dots converged on the Eastern seaboard of the United States, the sight of it on the screen having caught the blue-shirted man off guard.

The operator called in again. "Sierra Delta, repeat!"

"_I'm lookin' at mobile armour all over I-95!" _The air traffic controller blared out. _"How the fuck did they get through?!"_

"Standby!" The male operator responded, quickly tapping away at a series of buttons on his keyboard. "Attempting to contact the nearest unit in that sector."

Another few crackles of static emitted through the radio transmissions, before a gruff voice came out from the static.

"_I read you. This is __First Defence Brigade, _Fifth Mobile Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Blackburn, commander of Zeta Two-One. Do you copy, over?"

The man in the blue service uniform then dialed in another number that corresponded to all military installations through the super-state.

"All stations, please be advised—satellite surveillance has been disabled," the operator reported to all the other men over the radio. "SOSUS and Pave Paws arrays are inoperative at this time."

* * *

Hundreds of linear tanks, gunships, and other air and ground vehicles stormed past the beaches of the United States' east coast. A large fleet of naval carriers, cruisers, frigates, submarines, and battleships were standing by on the waters of the ocean right behind the hordes of air and ground vehicles that made their advance past the beaches. Several platoons consisting of armed soldiers clad in combat uniforms of pitch-black, silver, and grey, had rushed out of the armoured-personnel carriers and transport pods that touched the sandy terrain they were on. The large swath of infantry troops raced down the beachfront, while linear artillery cannons were being set in place by the hostile forces. Tens of thousands of hostile paratroopers dropped from the air in parachutes, touching down on the unclaimed lands they were on. Gunfire crackled and explosions erupted in the far distance ahead as more regiments of the hostile infantry and legions of mobile armours had swarmed through the beachheads.

Air raid sirens wailed all over the cities that were situated along the east coast, horrified screams and cries of terror were dampened by the wailing sirens as civilians ran for their lives from the dark-suited soldiers and armoured vehicles that tore through the streets. Angered shouts and yells of various European languages came from the attacking infantry squads, as they began firing their assault rifles and light-machine guns at the Atlantic Federation forces defending the lands. Bodies of civilians and A.F. soldiers littered the streets in the midst of the crossfires, while cars and trucks were crushed flat into pancakes by the linear tanks that ran amok on the concrete roads. A few A.F. soldiers stationed at mounted-gunner nests and sniper positions above buildings had fired down on a few swarms of dark-clothed soldiers, before a few mini-warhead rounds zoomed straight at them, blowing apart the positions and the soldiers themselves.

The local police officers that were caught in the surprise invasion had assisted the defending Atlantic Federation troops by firing back at the converging hostile soldiers with only their handguns. Before they knew it, they were overwhelmed in literally no more than a few seconds, as bullets shredded through their bodies and lay dying in pools of blood all over the pavement. A large group of hostile gunmen in dark military uniforms stormed the front of a police station, with one of them kicking down the doors open, followed by another firing off a smoke grenade inside. Shouts of angry Slavic languages came before a rapturous display of gunfire turned into a gruesome display of dead, bloodstained policemen that were inside the building. Law enforcement units of higher standing and military reserve forces were no match for the highly-prepared legions of soldiers that surged down the streets.

An emergency task force officer was knocked down to solid pavement by a shotgun-toting soldier in darkened military gear, before he was mercilessly executed with a shell through his skull. Military reserve troops fought back at the hostile soldiers from behind a barricade of sandbags and armoured military trucks, before a blinding stream of red light directed at them from the skies, reducing everything and everyone in the area into ashes. One of the hostile mobile suits fired its beam rifle at the squadrons of Atlantic Federation troops on the ground, before it engaged its thrusters forward amid the support craft that rocketed in the skies.

Bloodshed and chaos continued in the cities that were ravaged by the invading hostiles that pushed their way through. Corpses of innocent men and women, children and elders, littered most of the streets in a grisly display of blood and flesh that marked the actions of the brutal invaders. In other areas, metal canisters containing heavy amounts of toxic gas were fired at both civilians and soldiers defending the country, almost all of them exposed to the poisonous fumes as they collapsed and died instantly from it. The hostile men who used the chemical weapons had only trudged through the areas harmlessly, the gas masks having covered their faces as they marched with their firearms drawn.

Thick black smoke billowed from the skylines of the buildings that were caught on fire, some of them were partially damaged from heavy artillery fire, while others were either completely destroyed or were on the verge of collapse. On the ground, a line of civilian males and females wept in fear and pleaded for mercy, as their hands were splayed on the walls. Their backs were facing towards the men who were clad in black combat uniforms, armed with light machine guns that pointed straight at them. The squad leader watching the scene nodded to the first soldier he faced, before a series of blustering gunshots ruptured the air, as the brick walls were now stained with streaks of crimson-red that came from the captured civilians that were now lying in a wretched, bloody heap.

* * *

A faint whistling sound came from the distance above, getting increasingly louder before another thunderous boom that rattled the ground to its very core, with even more intense vibrations setting off. Shouts and yells of fear and panic came from the delegates in the room that were startled by the tremors that shook the enclosed space. The grey-suited President who stood up from his seat was unnerved by what was happening right now, before a black-suited bodyguard with shades had burst through the left-side door of the room.

"Sir!" The man shouted frantically, before he quickly approached him and whispered into his ear of the revelations that were currently occurring.

President Anderson's eyes widened open in shock as he listened to what his assistant had reported to him, the fear having paralyzed his body to the very essence. As soon as the bodyguard finished whispering into his ear, the grey-suited brunette turned to gaze at him with terrified eyes, a small gape formed on his mouth that trembled as he was stricken with horror.

"Oh, my God." He quietly reacted in his alarmed state of mind. "They're here!"

"Who are they, sir?!" One of the male leaders frantically asked.

The brunette man then turned to the crowd of delegates around the table, most of them staring at him with shock and confusion.

He shook his head a few times. "Ladies and gentlemen!" The President put out both palms in front, gesturing. "Do not be alarmed! Our men will escort you through the safest route towards the evacuation site!"

As he tried to calm down the panic-stricken delegates in the room, a large group of Secret Service agents moved into the room, assisting them out and into the halls of the West Wing.

"Let's go! Let's go!" One of the agents shouted as he held the door open for the governing members that rushed through. "Evac choppers are inbound any second!"

Cagalli was the last in the pack of the people that ran through the halls of the White House, while the escorting Secret Service agents ran in tandem next to the heads of different states on both sides. Rushing through a narrow passageway, the men and women who were dressed in formal apparel began making their way towards the West Colonnade of the President's residence, which was past a much wider hallway that then directed to the right. As they continued to sprint their way down the halls of the colonnade, an artillery round sailed directly at the middle of the group, blowing out a large section of the walls and windows to their right. The violent force of the impact sent chunks of concrete and glass everywhere, catching the delegates at the front and back off-guard.

The blonde woman in the Orb military uniform slowly got back up onto her feet after she was knocked down from the brute force of air kicked up from the shell's powerful impact. Patting herself off with a few swipes of her arms, she was in perilous shock to see the sights in front of her—five delegates were sprawled down on the floor, their singed bodies badly burnt and clothing were in tatters. She could recognize one of the bloodstained bodies being the male leader of the United States of South America, along with a couple of diplomats from the African Community, their limbs severed off.

"_SHIT! We have some casualties!" _An agent bellowed in the midst of the demonic distortion that floated around her consciousness._ "Five V.I.P.s are down! I repeat, five V.I.P.s are down!"_

Whipping her head around, she shook off whatever emotions intensified in her head, before she was led by a group of four armed men in black tuxedos that also led a few governing members around her. With all the remaining delegates and heads of state reaching the ground floor of the White House Complex, the Secret Service agents guided the governing members towards the evacuation site, located at the South Lawn past the South Portico.

"We need evac choppers right now!" A Secret Service agent shouted in a frenzy over the microphone of his earpiece. "Olympus has fallen! I repeat, _Olympus has fallen!_"

"_We read you, Bravo!" _One of the chopper pilots responded. _"L.Z.'s at the South Lawn, E.T.A. 15 seconds!" _

The agent then directed the heads of state and their delegates towards the doors leading outside the South Portico of the building.

"This way, people! Come on, let's go!" He waved an arm towards the direction they're going. "Rescue choppers are here!"

The large group of leaders and diplomats barged through the open doors leading outside, as they began to notice the transport helicopters approaching from the far distance. Racing up the stairs and past the short stretch of concrete before the grassy terrain, the delegates could make out the green and silver choppers that had touched down just 200 metres away from where they were. Before they could even advance further towards the helicopters, a large blast of blinding red beams came from the gloomy skies of dark and grey, directly slamming into the idle choppers. Monstrous fireballs erupted into the skies like volcanoes, causing some of the delegates to dive away from the ear-shattering explosions, while others were blown off their feet from the strong winds that pushed towards them. The mighty tremors that shook the ground ceased, as a large crater filled with enormous flames that replaced the sights of the choppers that landed previously.

Frightened cries and appalled faces marked the reactions of most delegates that backed away very cautiously, some of them taking a few steps back in utter shock that set into their bodies. It was then, out of the skies, a towering mobile suit in its silver-and-white colour scheme landed hard on the grasslands. Standing on its two feet in front of the burning wreckage behind it, the giant mobile suit with the black emblem on its right shoulder piece directed the barrel end of its beam rifle down below, pointed at the delegates that stood on the grass. Screams of horror erupted from some delegates on the ground, as they held tightly onto the others, facing the menacing mobile weapon that threatened them with the beam rifle in its one hand. Cagalli gasped in fear as she stood frozen in front of the hostile mobile suit that was about to fire on all of them.

The dark-suited pilot inside the humanoid contraption gazed at the terrified men and women on the ground, an ominous laugh of malice kept to himself, as he began to charge up the energy particles inside the armed beam rifle. Before the hostile male pilot could even fire at all the delegates on the ground—an intense, high-pitched whine had signalled that the energy particles charging inside the rifle were at its fullest—a flash of bright blue beamed towards the unsuspected mobile weapon, the powerful impact knocking the mobile suit down on its back before it was destroyed in a series of massive fireballs. The delegates got down onto the ground again, withstanding the sheer force of the winds that blew for a moment, before they rose up onto their feet. The hostile mobile suit that threatened the miniscule men and women had been reduced to no more than a flaming pile of scrapped metal.

Cagalli exerted her breath repeatedly in a quick succession, panting heavily as she looked around the area in front of her, searching around for whatever prevented everyone—including her—from being fired upon by the hostile machine moments ago. Two gigantic-sized feet planted down firmly on the grass, putting almost every delegate cowering away again, as a mobile suit in its colours of white, carbon-black, and orange had stood behind the burning remains of the enemy weapon laying in its own grave of a crater. The mobile suit with a long-barrelled beam cannon fixed to its back, had looked down at the display of carnage in front, its head lowered down and directed at the mobile weapon that was now terminated.

Inside the heavily-armed mobile suit, a blond male pilot glanced at the sight through his screen, his hands firmly at the controls of the machine.

"_Yeah, that's right,_" he drawled quietly under his breath. "_…Not on my fuckin' watch._"

The head of the standing mobile suit then turned to the shocked delegates still on the ground, before it turned back to its left, the towering suit deploying its thrusters as it lifted itself off and away from the scene. Large gapes formed on the mouths of almost every delegate that spectated the turn of events in front of their eyes, Cagalli having an awestruck expression on her face as she saw the mobile suit propelling itself away from the lawn.

Piloting the mobile suit away from the White House, the blond male in his purple-and-black pilot suit directed his machine towards the battle lines, being joined by a large squadron of Windam Mk. III mobile suits right behind him. Two of the Windams travelled in the skies beside the black and orange machine in the hunt, both of the blue and orange mobile suits toting beam rifles in their hands.

"_Hey, La Flaga!" _The man piloting the Windam to the left had shouted over the radio. _"You busy savin' their damn asses over there?"_

"For the record, I _did _save all of their asses!" The blond pilot retorted brusquely. "My old man would tell me that I'm someone who can make the impossible possible, so they should thank me for that!"

"_Amen to that, Sam!" _The other male piloting the Windam to his right sharply agreed. _"We gotta show these motherfuckers who they're really dealing with!"_

"Roger that, Montes!" Sam La Flaga responded sternly. "Most of their fleet is coming in westward…towards our direction! We have to take 'em all out before we can blow out their artillery further down the stretch. Marlowe, do you copy?"

The male piloting the Windam to Sam's left acknowledged with a grunt. _"Got it! You be careful out there, La Flaga!"_

"Yeah…same to you, Elias," the blond pilot turned his head to the left, before turning back to focus in front.

The massive squadrons of the Atlantic Federation's Windams, support fighters, and other mobile weapons advanced eastward towards the invading forces headed their way. In the closing distance, they began to encounter a line of hostile mobile suits, support craft, and armoured vehicles that were on land. The three pilots leading the pack observed the enemy mobile suits in the air, all in silver and white, every one of them armed with beam rifles. Marlowe growled angrily to himself at the sight of them, while Montes gave an indignant glance at the hostile units coming their way.

Sam gulped in air deeply, before he took a deep breath. "Alright, everyone! This is it!" He shouted over the communications. "Tear 'em all out before they get to us!"

"_Yes, sir!" _One of the pilots in the squad of Windams shouted.

Another shout came from Elias Marlowe._ "LET'S DO THIS!" _

"_HOOAH!" _

Several other male pilots shouted in a strong cheer that brought their morale surging skyward as a united force. Both the Atlantic Federation's fleet of mobile weapons and the fleet of hostile mobile suits and support fighters approached each other dangerously in the air and the land, before the first shots were fired.

One of the enemy mobile suits fired a few red beams from its rifle, directly striking one of the Windams and blowing it apart. A series of red streaks blazed through the skies from left and right, as the Windams exchanged fire with the hostile mobile suits that charged forward. Explosions tore through the air as support fighters were blown to bits, mobile weapons being caught in the line of fire on both sides against each other. A male pilot taking control over a Windam let out a blood-curdling scream of death, as a red beam fired from an enemy unit had directly struck past his machine, fireballs of red and orange expanding outward of the mobile suit in a tremendous blast.

The radio chatter amongst all units of Windams went wild right away. _"CONTACT, 12 O'CLOCK!"_

"_BOGEYS TO OUR LEFT! THEY'RE MOVING!"_

"_TANGO DOWN!"_

Deflecting the oncoming flashes of red beams with their shields, Elias and Montes focused in on the hostiles that scrambled quickly, firing their beam rifles at the attacking mobile suits. Some of the mobile weapons they targeted were quickly dispatched by them. Support craft zipped through the skies, while some of the Windams charged towards the opposing forces of humanoid combat vehicles, all of them engaging in close-quarters with the use of their beam sabers. A small squad of Windams fired from the perimeter with their recon-styled beam rifles, picking off several enemy support fighters and other mobile combat units that were in their sights. Warheads then slammed into the blue-and-orange mobile suits, before they were all destroyed in a torrent of fireballs. Several squads of two-toned hostiles equipped with missile launchers on their backs fired a barrage of metallic-tipped shells at the defending Windams.

Sam, in his mobile suit, shot down the volley of missiles with the CIWS mounted on both sides of the machine's head. Elias and Montes had also destroyed the oncoming warheads by firing off multiple rounds from the head and shoulder-mounted automatic CIWS on their mobile suits. The two men piloting the Windams then disengaged the high-powered thruster backpacks that were mounted onto their backs, before they both landed on solid ground. Sam then descended his mobile suit down to the ground as well, as all three of them took on a regiment of hostile mobile suits that were on land, along with ground combat vehicles that joined the hostiles. While some of the fighting remained in the air, red flashes of beams were exchanged with the Windams on the ground and the hostile mobile weapons on the opposing side.

The black-and-orange mobile suit then transformed into a four-legged mobile armour in the shape of a bird, charging straight at the silver-white mobile suits, its glowing beam sabers pivoting outward on both sides. The quadruped beast then fired off a continuous stream of ammunition rounds from its Gatling machine gun at the hostile units, before slashing away at their midsections with its beam sabers, the bright plasma cutting away at the metal of the machines. As the four-legged beast of a mobile armour skidded around to a stop, the troops of silver-white combat vehicles blew up in a series of raging fireballs that engulfed all of them.

The black-orange mobile armour was then struck by a powerful blast of energy from the ground. Sam growled angrily as he held onto the controls tightly, as the impact rocked the quadruped that withstood the hit. The blond pilot shook his head, as he regained his focus.

"_Sam!" _Montes shouted over the radio. _"You got hostile tanks at your 3, man!"_

The head of the quadruped then turned slowly to its right, before the young pilot saw through the screen, the bluish-black linear tanks stationed on the ground a few kilometres away.

"Yeah, I see them," he grumbled quietly whilst maintaining his composure.

The energy particles charged away on the beam cannon mounted at the top of the mobile armour, before a blast of bright-blue surged from the barrel-end of the cannon, striking the area where the tanks were. A large crater filled with towering fires followed afterward.

Switching back to its original humanoid state, the black-orange mobile suit was then bombarded by heavy fire coming from the distance ahead. Some of the Windams behind the three units were taken out instantly, laying in burning rubble on the ground. The mobile weapon jolted backwards, as the Windams also backed away a couple of paces from the barrage of red beams that were fired from up high and down below. The remaining regiments of the Atlantic Federation's mobile suits returned fire at the attackers ahead. Sam could see a flash of red and blue coming from his left, before it occurred to his right and disappearing high above.

"_DAMMIT!" _Elias roared loudly over the radio. _"We're taking heavy fire! Where the fuck are they all coming from?!"_

Before Sam could even know it, the flash of red and blue suddenly made its way towards Elias, in the form of a mobile suit. As the black-orange Gundam turned to its left, the blond pilot was in horrified shock spectating the sight in front of him, a blinding flash of white striking across the abdomen of the Windam that the unsuspected Elias was piloting in. The red-and-blue mobile suit zipped by Elias' mobile weapon, before it disappeared again in a shimmer of light. At the same time, the Windam that was cut through by the mysterious hostile machine began emitting a bright light around its severed abdomen.

"_NO!" _Elias screamed as he was surrounded by blinding white around him. _"NNNOOOOO!"_

The Windam Mk. III exploded into a fury of red, yellow, and orange, the fireballs shooting straight up into the air, and the tremendous blast having set off a few large tremors on the ground. The top-half of the destroyed unit laid on its back, while its other half was buried nearby in the crater. Tears ran down Sam's enraged eyes, as he witnessed the death of one of his best friends, serving at the same unit as he was.

"_**ELIAS!**_" He screamed at the top of his lungs, pounding a fist against the control panel. "_GODDAMN IT!_"

Montes, who was fighting off the invading hostile fighters, was frozen in a state of outrage as he also viewed upon the burning remains of Elias' mobile suit. Out of the skies, four mobile fighters dropped from above and in front of the two units, heavily-armed and in shades of green and black. Two of them charged straight at Sam's Gundam, while the other two heavy grunt units went for Montes in his Windam Mk. III. Rising anger burned through the blond pilot's body, as he took control of his mobile suit to avoid the beam sabers of one heavy grunt coming his way. A fierce roar of anger came from him as he guided his mobile suit around a greenish-black unit to his right, at the same time, deploying the combat knives that emerged from the hips of the humanoid fighter. The sharp blade folded out of the weapon as the black-orange Gundam swung at the hostile mobile suit, tearing apart its right arm by striking it through its joints.

Knocking down the arm-less heavy grunt to the ground with a shove, the Gundam spun around before delivering a swift kick against the other hostile unit with its right leg, just as the greenish-black mobile suit was about to fire its beam cannon. The enemy mobile unit went down on its back, with the Gundam quickly going in for the kill as it plunged down and jammed a combat knife into the exposed area of the mobile weapon. The black-orange Gundam then pulled the metal blade out from the immobilized combat vehicle, before it stabbed the knife right through the midsection of the limbless heavy grunt that charged from behind with a beam saber in its hand. Sparks flew and bolts of electricity surged through the downed hostile units, before they burst into flames, as Sam exerted his breath repeatedly in quieted rage.

In the distance ahead, a large Girty Lue-class ship slowly advanced in the skies, with a large swath of silver-white and greenish-black mobile suits, and other trans-atmospheric battleships behind it. The captain of the ship, dressed in a uniform of dark-black and silver, pulled out a wireless handset and pushed a couple of buttons on a panel. His voice, a distinguishable accent of Belgian mixed in with Greek, had travelled through the air in the midst of sending his message to the defending Atlantic Federation armies.

"_This is the National Republic of Eurasia! Lay down your arms and surrender to the will of our fatherland!"_

Sam La Flaga was struck with a great disturbance in the midst of his anger, hearing the man's voice come across miles away that were carried out from the powerful speakers of the ship in the sky.

"_I repeat!" _The captain's thick accent boomed through the skies. _"This is Captain André Kartemis of the National Republic of Eurasia! We urge all of the Atlantic Federation's military to lay down their arms and surrender, or else we will take you by force in the name of our fatherland!"_

At the same time, Sam turned his Gundam around to witness Montes, defending himself from the pair of attacking brutes in his Windam. Blocking away a couple of beam sabers with his own, Montes fought back, charging his mobile suit right at the assaulting hostile unit in front. Avoiding the beam cannon fire from the other greenish-black mobile weapon, Montes engaged heavily against the heavy grunt armed with twin beam sabers, their plasma swords clashing against each other. Gaining the upper hand on his assailant, the Atlantic Federation soldier slashed a beam saber through the neck of the enemy mobile suit, severing its head apart. He went in for another slash of his saber, chopping away at an arm of the heavy grunt, before he stuck the melee weapon through the midsection of the hostile vehicle.

The heavy grunt unit exploded into a massive series of fireballs, Montes backing away from it as he pulled the beam saber out from the downed unit just before it blew up. The Windam was then tackled down by the other greenish-black mobile suit, laying on its back as the heavy grunt pulled out its beam saber and was about to penetrate it through its torso. A barrage of bullet fire knocked the heavy grunt back into the air, as the Windam fired all four of its CIWS at the enemy machine. Rising to an upright position, the Windam reached for its dagger-like weaponry that emerged from the pocket sections on its hip armours. Montes locked the crosshairs onto the heavy grunt, before he directed his Windam to throw one of the anti-armour penetrators at the hostile unit that stood still.

With the anti-armor penetrator landing square through a weak point in the heavy grunt's midsection, the greenish-black machine knelt down on one knee before it burst into a tremendous ball of fire, sending debris everywhere. Sam continued to watch, as Montes' Windam slowly rose up on its feet.

Suddenly a flash of red and blue came from the sky above, right over the Windam, before the hostile Gundam swooped in from behind the unaware pilot.

"_MONTES!_" Sam hollered at him as he saw the enemy Gundam coming in from his rear. "_BEHIND YOU!_"

It was too late. Montes turned his mobile suit around to see where the enemy was, before his Windam was knocked right up in the air by the hostile Gundam in red and blue. Before the Atlantic Federation soldier knew it, a blinding flash of light struck across diagonally from the Windam's left-most side of its torso, all the way past the left hip. The red-and-blue Gundam blew past the Windam in one fell swoop, before it disappeared into a glimmering flash in an instant.

"_OH MY GOD!" _Montes let out an agonizing scream before a blinding white light encompassed the cockpit. _"AAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHHHHH!"_

The blue-and-orange mobile suit then erupted into a few monstrous balls of fire that shot up into the air, gutting everything inside and out of the Windam as it fell hard to the ground. Its decapitated remains burnt within the soil of the massive crater, thick black smoke billowing out into the skies.

Sam let out another tortured scream in the wake of Montes' passing. "**HENRY! **_NNOOOOO!_"

Holding back the choked sobs in his throat, Sam tried to regain his composure as he looked around for the hostile Gundam that had now taken both lives of his best friends in the force. Most of the Windam brigades were decimated in numbers as they continued to fight against the hostile Eurasian forces that kept advancing westward. The only Windams that remained in the area where Sam was, had either been destroyed by the invaders, or were farther away and were in the midst of clashing with other hostile troops. All by himself, Sam La Flaga slowly peered around in his Gundam, breathing heavily in furor as he looked hard for the mobile suit responsible for the deaths of both pilots he deeply knew.

Without warning, the mobile suit he looked for had appeared directly in front of him, knocking down his Gundam to the earth with violent force. Sam struggled around in regaining every bit of his consciousness, as the black-orange Gundam slowly lifted itself up so that it sat in an upright position. It had then met with the barrel-end of a beam shotgun in the hands of the hostile mobile suit, which stood tall in front of it. Sam's eyes widened in overwhelming fear, taking in the sights of the hostile Gundam's red torso, blue markings on its arms and legs of snow-white and complete with its blue eyes ominously staring at him through the screen.

Inside the cockpit of the enemy Gundam, a male in his tri-coloured pilot suit gave a menacing laughter filled with malice, as he was about to finish off the blond pilot inside the black-and-orange Gundam. Sam gulped in air deeply, about to face the finishing blow from the killer assailant that now had him by the ropes.

Before the hostile Gundam was even able to pull the trigger on its beam shotgun, a blast of red and white energy beams came from somewhere in the skies, almost blindsiding the rogue mobile suit as it leapt back in the air and avoided the oncoming beam fire. The young man in the hostile humanoid vehicle growled harshly in anger, as he could see two distinctly-coloured mobile weapons coming from his north-west direction. Sam blinked a few times as he realized that he was still alive from the encounter he had with the hostile machine, getting his Gundam right back up on his feet. Turning around to face where the large energy beams had originated, Sam was caught by surprise to see a couple of mobile suits flying in from a major fleet of Minerva-class and Izumo-class battleships in the very far distance.

One of the mobile suits from the fleet, in its grey, blue, and white colours, had charged straight at the Gundam that had attacked Sam moments ago.

"Why are you after one of their men?" The brunette in his bluish-white pilot suit shouted. "Is it because you want to stain the whole nation with their blood?!"

Pulling its beam sabers out from its shoulders, the bluish-grey Gundam clashed with the hostile mobile suit, having also brought out its beam sabers in the battle. The humanoid combat vehicles fought against each other, swinging their plasma-edged sabers against the other, countering each other's attacks whilst in the air. The bluish-grey Gundam parried the hostile machine's swing of its beam saber, positioning its own by pivoting it laterally against the cutting-edge of the hostile's saber that made contact with it. The reddish-blue Gundam then kicked the mobile suit against its abdomen, pushing it back forcefully as the greyish-blue Gundam deployed its thrusters to back off.

The greyish-blue mobile suit then joined with another Gundam in its crimson-red and neon-green colours, as they thrust forward besides each other.

"C'mon, Akira!" A young, blue-haired male piloting the mobile suit bellowed over the radio. "We got him right where we want him to be!"

"Copy that, Leon. Let's get right up on him!" The brunette added aggressively. "Show him that we really mean serious business!"

Sam continued to watch in awestruck at the two mobile suits that banded together, as they began to encounter the enemy mobile weapon. Both the greyish-blue and reddish-green Gundams then charged from the skies in tandem, as they both clashed with the male piloting the reddish-blue mobile suit in front of them.

_**To be continued in PHASE-09: "Splintered Concord".**_

* * *

**MOBILE SUIT INFORMATION**

**GAT-X930 Strike Falcon (Samuel La Flaga)**

**Unit Type:** Transformable Multi-Mode Counter-Insurgency Mobile Suit  
**Profile Model Number:** GAT-X930  
**Code Name:** Strike Falcon  
**Developed From:** GAT-X105 Strike and GAT-X399 Wild Dagger  
**Manufactured:** C.E. 90  
**Launched:** C.E. 92  
**Manufacturer:** Atlantic Federation  
**Operator:** Atlantic Federation Military

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height:** 17.96 metres  
**- Empty Weight:** 62.85 metric tons  
**- Colours:** Snow white, carbon black, and orange

**Power Source:** Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation:** Pilot only, cockpit in torso  
**Armour:** Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Armour

**Armaments  
**2 x 75mm Multi-barrel Anti-air CIWS  
2 x "Switchblade" Combat Knife  
1 x 46mm Gatling Machine Gun  
1 x 175mm Multipurpose Smoothbore Tail Cannon  
1 x Multipurpose Turret  
-Beam Cannons  
-Missile Launchers  
1 x Shield

**GAT-909 Windam Mk. III (Elias Marlowe and Henry Montes)**

**Unit Type:** Mass Production General Purpose Multi-Mode Mobile Suit  
**Profile Model Number:** GAT-909  
**Code Name:** Windam Mk. III  
**Manufactured:** C.E. 89  
**Launched:** C.E. 91  
**Manufacturer:** Atlantic Federation  
**Operator:** Atlantic Federation Military

**General Characteristics  
****- Overall Height:** 18.76 metres  
**- Empty Weight:** 59.83 metric tons  
**- Colours:** Snow white, dark blue, and orange

**Power Source:** Endured Nano-state Battery (ENB)  
**Accommodation:** Pilot only, cockpit in torso

**Armaments  
**4 x M3M5 12.5mm Automatic CIWS  
2 x ES06B Beam Saber  
2 x Mk335 Rocket-Propelled Anti-Armor Penetrator  
1 x A55 Offensive Shield Type E  
-Mk458/B Dual Multipurpose Missile

**Optional Equipment  
**M9500L Beam Rifle

* * *

**A few notes to make for this chapter in particular (from start to finish):**

**Firstly, you will notice that there are a few allusions to video games, such as the scene where the invasion is discovered from the underground base. Personally, I see the story as a tribute to the video games that are very popular these days, but (obviously enough) it's mainly paying tribute to Ghost Recon: Future Soldier as well.**

**As a sub-note to the first one, I forgot to mention in the previous chapter that the mission Team Spartan did, is based off of "Firefly Rain" from the aforementioned game. **

**Secondly, this is the first time I have ever written scenes that involve combat between mobile suits and other mobile weapons. I mean, I did watch all of the first anime series when it was on TV, but I actually got lost on how to write the scenes of warfare that involve mobile suits instead of infantry forces. So, please go easy on me if I didn't get the grasp of mobile suit combat correctly. xD**

**Lastly, new characters are introduced! Yes, Cagalli makes her first appearance in this story, and I'm also not sure if I did portray her correctly in this one. Also, I have to say: poor Sam…he really didn't deserve to have his best friends in the military to die in front of him. Unfortunately, that's the grim nature and reality of the war right there. Finally, we also get to see the two new characters duking it out against another new character at the end of the chapter. All three of them will get their full introductions in the next chapter.**

**As seen in this chapter, the rogue Eurasians have invaded the Atlantic Federation through the United States' east coast. Will they succeed in their invasion, or will the combined opposing forces prevent them from doing so? Stay tuned for more!**


End file.
